Chapter 1349 - Delirium
The atmosphere in the mansion was dark and tense after Iris and Lu Zihao fought.
Although Iris disliked this strain in the relationship between her and her brother and wanted to fix it as soon as possible, she also needed some time to process the sudden fight. Everything escalated so quickly that the two of them were already quarrelling before she knew it.
Both of them could be quite willful to a fault. It wasn't easy for others to influence their thoughts and decisions except for when they allowed it.
At this point, she was certain that her brother wouldn't change his mind so easily just like how she wouldn't change her mind easily just because of their argument.
He was blinded by revenge while she only wanted to protect everything that she built in this life, including her family with Jin Liwei. Even so, they had the same goal—to destroy all the enemies who annihilated the Vetrovs.
It was only very recently that she realized the necessity of this goal. Constantly running away from the shadows of her past life would only catch her unawares someday and might destroy everything that she treasured in this new life of hers as Long Xiulan. She couldn't allow that kind of risk to exist. If she could do something to prevent it, then she would do it.
This was what she wanted to communicate with her brother during their quarrel. She thought that she had been able to calm down enough and convey her thoughts in a clear manner, but based on his reaction, it didn't seem to be successful.
"Hard-headed brother," Iris muttered to herself while changing Little Matcha's baby onesie in the nursery room. "Why won't you listen to me? So frustrating!"
Long Jinjing was also there bottle-feeding Little Dima with Iris' breast milk. She heard what her sister said just now.
"What did you and Zihao fight about anyway?" she asked. "His already bad mood had worsened since yesterday. I couldn't take it. I asked him to chill down a bit but he took it badly. He stormed out of our room. I thought that he was going to sleep in a guest room but when I woke up this morning, he was already gone. I still don't know where he went. He won't answer my calls or messages. It was only when Bacon assured me that his uncle is safe that I stopped worrying so much about him. Well, I still worry about him but I'm too preoccupied with the twins."
Iris sighed and felt sorry for Long Jinjing. As the wife of her brother, Long Jinjing was also affected in the fight.
"Big Brother has been on edge these past few weeks. I unintentionally said something that triggered him and we ended up quarrelling. Let's just say that it got ugly. To be honest, I'm still in shock. Of course, I want to make up with him, but at the same time, I also don't want to see his face right now. I guess both of us are still upset with each other at this point, that's why he left today."
Long Jinjing pouted but still said, "It's okay, little sister. I may not know what you two fought about but I do know that my husband often acts unreasonable."
'Well, you also act unreasonable sometimes,' she added in her heart. 'You were completely unreasonable when we were younger. You've improved a lot as an adult but the trait is still there. Even though you're my blood sister, you and my husband resemble each other to the point that the two of you seem like the real siblings than the two of us, especially when it comes to troublesome personality traits like this.'
Iris had no idea about Long Jinjing's real thoughts. She only agreed that her brother was indeed oftentimes unreasonable.
"Zihao is already an adult," Long Jinjing added. "He might have a bad temper at times but he cares. You might not be his real sister but he treats you better than any of our biological brothers."
Iris didn't reply. She knew in her heart that she and her brother were truer siblings than Long Jinjing and her.
"I'm just concerned because Zihao looked like he was having a painful headache last night." Long Jinjing bit her lower lip.
"Really? Did it look bad?" Iris also became worried. She remembered that her brother didn't look alright yesterday when he left in a hurry after they fought.
"I don't know. I think so. You know him. His expression is always so difficult to read. If he looks like he's hurting, then it must really be painful for it to show on his face."
Iris muttered something in a foreign language. Long Jinjing didn't understand but it sounded like something Lu Zihao would sometimes utter when he was cursing in Russian. She wasn't 100% sure, though.
###
Platinum Sky Condominium.
Inside his penthouse unit, Lu Zihao curled in his large bed and groaned as his head pounded with pain. He was only wearing his boxers—almost naked. His body was drenched with sweat as he struggled with his pounding head. He had been like this since yesterday after he fought with his sister.
The pain this time was almost too much. It wasn't a simple headache. There was no pain in the rest of his body, yet everything hurt. The pain transcended his physical body. It was mental, emotional…and yes, spiritual. It felt like his consciousness—no, his soul—was being ripped out.
He was literally holding on for dear life. If not, he might really die and leave this body forever.
The original Lu Zihao's remnant was not its usual talkative, jokester self. Right now, it was assailing him like magma and incinerating the hold he had over this body. The gradual loss of control was excruciating, not to mention terrifying. It was like being slowly drowned and burned at the same time.
For him who was adept in all kinds of torture, this was the worst. It was like losing himself bit by bit until nothing was left.
Through his tormenting delirium, he didn't realize that he was muttering.
"Jin…jing…Mi…sha…Di…ma…Jin…Jing…."
He had no knowledge of this, yet his subconscious was yearning for his family amidst the agony.
In the end, everything was too much.
He wasn't afraid of any enemy. Even when he had already been defeated once and killed in his past life, he still wasn't afraid. As a matter of fact, he only became more resolved to fight the enemies again to the death.
Now, however, it was extremely difficult to hold on to all his resolutions. How could he defend against an enemy that was within him?
All he could do was persist…and persevere…and endure…until he couldn't do it anymore.
Finally, he was battered until the remainder of his life was like a tiny ember about to be extinguished with the littlest blow.
It felt familiar.
This was how he felt when he was about to die in his past life as Nikolai Vetrov.
There wasn't any panic, only despair, and grudging reluctance of all the things he failed to finish before passing away.
When he was about to go, he opened his eyes and stared unseeingly at the ceiling. He was looking at something that he could only see. He reached his arm up but touched nothing.
"Jin…jing…I...love you…."
Then everything went dark.
###
Dragon Palace Home #10.
Long Jinjing's anguished sobs filled the hospital wing as the doctor declared her husband comatose.
Nobody knew what happened.
They only learned that something was wrong when Bacon alerted Iris that his Uncle Zihao displayed abnormal sleeping patterns. It seemed that Bacon had attempted to wake his uncle up but failed. If this was before, the always alert Lu Zihao would wake up immediately with the slightest noise. This time, however, he remained unmoving even when Bacon played a variety of deafening sounds.
Iris quickly instructed Bacon to send some Shadow Winds members to check on Lu Zihao in person. They confirmed that he was indeed unconscious and unresponsive. She then sent Jin Liwei's helicopter and had the Shadow Winds members fly Lu Zihao straight to Dragon Palace where he was directly wheeled to the hospital wing.
Outside the hospital room where Lu Zihao was in coma, Iris was filled with guilt. Even so, she appeared calm on the outside. Her mind was running multiple miles per second as she thought about several reasons why her brother fell into coma.
This already happened to both of them before. It must have something to do with the remnant of the original owner of his body again.
Although the two of them had vastly different experiences with the remnants of the original owners of their respective bodies, it was undeniable that they were more or less in exactly the same situation—reborn in completely another bodies after their deaths.
Dom and Jiang Ying Yue were helping comfort the distraught Long Jinjing. Grandpa Lu also arrived not too long ago. The old man also looked like his soul had flown out of his body as he stared at the closed door of the hospital room.
Iris couldn't make herself comfort any of them because she also had to deal with her own worry and fear for her brother. Knowing that this happened after their shocking fight from yesterday was eating at her conscience.
It seemed that she wasn't the only one who thought about the possible cause and effect between their fight yesterday and Lu Zihao suddenly falling into coma today.
"Xiulan!" Long Jinjing shifted her attention on Iris. "If my husband doesn't wake up, I'll make you pay for this! This is all your fault!!!"