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Aftermath...

Sizhui shook. He was freezing. The cold seeped in through the IV, slithered through his veins to curl itself in an icy coil in his stomach. 

In a strange way, he liked the cold. It was better than feeling empty. Lost.

He hadn't been the most cooperative patient when the doctor and inspector brought him into the hospital.

He had told them in no uncertain terms when he would wear a hospital gown. It involved a subterranean location and a snow storm.

Nie Huaisang had almost choked trying not to laugh.

Finally, he had agreed to wearing scrubs with the sweatshirt Sergeant Liu had given him.

After taking approximately five pints of his blood (Sizhui was sure it was at least five), the lab thought they had worked out the majority of the ingredients of the drug he'd been given. They had supplied the IV bag that was apparently full of liquid oxygen.

They assured him they hadn't stored it in a deep freeze before giving it to him but he didn't believe them. Surely this couldn't be all chemical reaction?

The pile of heated blankets didn't seem to help at all. His teeth chattered.

He couldn't help but wonder what would become of him now.

Flashes of his parents  through his life swamped him. His mother smiling as she straightened his tie for school. Playing soccer in the backyard with his dad. The trips they had taken together. America to see Cape Canaveral. Chichen Itza to see where the ancient astronomers had mapped the  night skies. Egypt and the pyramids aligned with the stars. They had traveled the world and loved it.

It had always been just the three of them. His parents had no siblings and his grandparents had passed long ago.

Now, he was utterly alone.

Underage, they would have to find him a guardian of some sort for the months remaining until his eighteenth birthday. And what about his father's company? Xingye Chanye** couldn't just wait for him to grow up. There were too many people whose livelihoods depended on the company.

He felt very young and very out of his depth.

Nie Huisang watched the young man. His face was very expressive. Eyebrows knitting in consternation. The downward pull of his lips. The slightly tear swollen eyes.

"You do not have to solve every problem right now." he said in a soothing tone. "This IV is almost done. They said a bag of saline afterwards and you're finished. I'll take you to a safe place so you can rest and recover a bit. Does that sound reasonable to you?"

Sizhui didn't respond for several minutes before finally nodding.

"Inspector?" He was staring at the far wall. Unfeeling. Unseeing. Unblinking.

"Yes?"

"What did they do with my parents' bodies?" Sizhui's voice could barely be heard.

"I don't know but I will find out for you."

"Thank you."  Sizhui closed his eyes again and waited in the cold. 
-----

Lan Wangji pulled out his laptop. After starting it up, he plugged in the thumb drive and began to scan the contents. He clicked on the document labeled 'Summary'.

Five minutes later he was calling his brother.

"Wei, Di-di?"

"Where is Meng Yao?"

"I'm not doing this with you, Wangji. You've already - "

Lan Wangji cut him off.

"Ge-ge, it isn't about that. Well, in part it is. I owe him a profound apology. It is about the thumb drive."