But only Lu Chen knew the truth.
If not for him, Zhou Manyin's life would have ended forever on that day, and there would have been no future to speak of.
Compared to that, the attitudes of the others seemed much more normal.
Most of them offered envious congratulations, while people like Manager Liu dropped heavy hints that Lu Chen should take good care of them in the future.
Yet, putting himself in their shoes, if he were an employee at Manying Company, he wouldn't be satisfied with the company's lousy performance either.
He hadn't been sitting in his new position for long before Tan Mengying came downstairs to fetch someone.
Her excuse was that their design drafts required further discussion.
No one dared to ask if it was true, and in any case, Manager Liu happily sent Lu Chen off with a broad smile.
Once downstairs, Tan Mengying pushed him into Zhou Manyin's office, turned around with a chuckle, and thoughtfully closed the door behind them. She then told the curious employees lingering outside to hurry back to their respective tasks, warning them not to wander around this area for the next few hours and to pretend they heard nothing even if strange noises drifted out.
Zhou Manyin, who had been leaning casually over her desk revising the design drafts, suddenly grew a bit self-conscious. She straightened her posture and quietly smoothed her somewhat disheveled hair, making the curves of her already impressive chest even more pronounced.
"Right, the bonus I asked finance to arrange should have been transferred to your account. Why don't you check?"
Lu Chen opened his mobile banking app and saw that fifty thousand had indeed arrived three minutes ago!
"Don't worry, this is already after tax. Actually, I originally planned to give you more, but since we're already dating anyway, if you need money in the future, just ask me directly."
Lu Chen smiled amusedly. "Aren't you afraid I'll treat you like an ATM?"
"What does it matter? I believe you're not that kind of person." The wealthy Ms. Zhou raised her head to look at him with a slight smile. "And even if I really misjudged you and you actually are greedy for money, as long as I keep giving you money, you won't leave me, right?"
"Besides, I'm confident that I won't lose to any other woman in any aspect."
When she said such strange things, she briefly carried the aura of a domineering CEO, yet she was inexplicably cute.
"Fine, I'll just consider myself kept by you."
Since he wasn't short of money at home right now, he decided to keep these fifty thousand for his own use first.
He had quite a few preparations for cultivation ahead of him.
Afterward, the two of them actually began to seriously discuss his design draft.
He had to admit that the standards of a top university graduate were different indeed. Zhou Manyin was able to pinpoint his shortcomings accurately, showing zero mercy in her work and hitting the sorest spots every single time. For a moment, it felt as though he had run into those picky client representatives all over again, and his head began to throb.
However, Zhou Manyin mostly taught him how to revise the work after pointing out the flaws, and at those times she would become much gentler.
By noon, the two of them had no time to go out for a meal, so they simply ordered takeout to fill their stomachs.
After such a flurry of busyness, the details were basically finalized by the afternoon.
Yet, while they were busy here, the local police headquarters was also welcoming new guests.
Inside the police conference room.
Along both sides of a long conference table sat several senior leaders, along with Captain Li, who had been in charge of the police response three days ago. On the opposite side sat a group of members rumored to be from a special operations team who had just rushed over from the capital this morning.
This special operations team was reportedly formed on an emergency basis after Yu Yiyi's recorded video was restored and submitted to the higher-ups.
Its members were primarily composed of specialized criminal investigation experts, and they had been dispatched specifically to investigate this hospital incident.
The team was led by a middle-aged man named Xu Xun. He sat bolt upright, with a rigid, by-the-book demeanor straight out of the military—likely a high-ranking figure who had retired or been specially transferred here.
"Well, without further ado, everyone should know why we are gathered here."
"First, let's take a look at the restored livestream recording of the internet broadcaster named Yu Yiyi. It provides quite a lot of crucial information."
Xu Xun took the remote control and clicked the play button on the projector.
Instantly, the entire conference room went dark, and the white screen projected Yu Yiyi's recording from that day.
Everyone's gaze fixed upon the screen, watching the scene unfold.
Seeing Yu Yiyi's standard internet broadcaster antics at the beginning—begging for likes and attention—most of those present could not help but frown, their expressions filled with disdain and contempt.
When the video showed Yu Yiyi just entering the hospital, Xu Xun pressed the pause button.
"Right here. What does everyone see?"
Everyone stared intently at the screen, but failed to spot anything out of the ordinary.
At that moment, a young man raised his hand to signal.
"Is it that part in the upper right corner?"
Xu Xun nodded.
"Correct. Look at the upper right corner, everyone. Although it's a bit blurry due to the focus, expert restoration allows us to clearly see a flock of bats flying past."
"This process lasted only a second or two, so it's quite easy to miss."
"Bats?"
The people present looked somewhat puzzled.
Bats were already rare in metropolises nowadays; previously, they could only be found in the gloomy, damp caves of remote mountains and wild forests.
Let alone such a massive swarm numbering in the hundreds.
Xu Xun glanced over the expressions of everyone present.
"The strange thing is, we checked the surrounding surveillance footage, and there was no sign of bats gathering in large numbers prior to that. They seemed to appear suddenly on that night, at that exact time."
"This is the first suspicious point, and also important evidence."
Playback resumed.
Following the camera lens, the viewers entered the interior of the hospital as well, starting to walk upward level by level.
This part was fast-forwarded.
When they reached the fourth floor, Xu Xun offered a reminder: "The crucial part is coming up next."
First, they saw that strange dark shadow at the end of the corridor.
Then, the nurse pushed the door open and went in.
When they caught sight of the eerie, mixed-race man who had suddenly appeared in the hospital room, everyone in the room changed expression.
"Was this just a stunt deliberately arranged by the broadcaster?"
"We'll see as we continue watching." Xu Xun shook his head.
Following the strange, whispered mumbles of the eerie man, everyone watched in disbelief as his arm actually transformed into dozens of bats that lunged at the camera!
At this point, Xu Xun pressed the pause button.
Coincidentally, one bat was facing the camera directly, baring its sharp fangs, and the fine fur on its body was even clearly visible.
"How is that possible!"
Someone immediately slammed the table and stood up.
"This has got to be special effects!"
"According to our experts' analysis, it's not special effects." Xu Xun shook his head. "Besides, if it were special effects this realistic, I'm afraid every single Hollywood special effects artist in Ying Country would have to kneel and beg this internet broadcaster—who only has tens of thousands of followers—for apprenticeship."
A stone stirred up a thousand ripples, and instantly everyone began whispering amongst themselves with expressions of utter disbelief.
This completely transcended their common sense.
Steeped in materialism, they found it impossible to accept the existence of such supernatural phenomena.
Meanwhile, Captain Li, who had led the team back then, was filled with shock.
He never could have imagined that everything Yu Yiyi said at the time was actually true!
Nor did he expect that he had brushed past such a terrifying and bizarre existence!