Operation Red Book

"He was burning hot all over. If nothing unexpected happened, his blood was boiling and bubbling."

Victor conjured up more ice cubes, and Joshua's entire body was wrapped in thick lake blue ice.

"Nonsense! There is no way a human being can endure such pain!"

Bell denied it, she quickly moved to Joshua and reached out to check his breathing.

With his brows inevitably furrowed, Bell raised his eyes and looked at Victor for a few seconds, then let out a long sigh.

"I have never seen such a disease, I'm sorry..."

"Why did it turn out like this?"

Moriarty raised his voice several degrees, and a few strands of hair fell on his forehead, but he had no time to manage his image now.

"He didn't come back, right? Is he still in the Vampire Lord's consciousness space?"

"impossible!"

Ivy said righteously, she pushed the potion away from her lips, and there seemed to be a flame burning in her heart.

"Joshua crossed the passage before me. I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Could it be that he went through a different passage than you did?"

"We went through the same path. The unicorn entered first, followed by Joshua. After his body disappeared, I entered the mirror..."

Ivy's voice trembled, her face was pale, and the corners of her eyes, which were wet with anxiety, slowly turned red.

"The unicorn is back, and I'm back too. He should be awake safely..."

Night fell again, the sultry air drove away the evening stars in the sky, and the thick black clouds gave a warning of wind and rain.

Moriarty could no longer bear the heat in his heart, he tore off his bow tie and exposed his sweaty chest.

No one cared about his rudeness and disrespect. The atmosphere in the ward became increasingly depressing. Joshua's abnormality turned into an invisible drum, quietly drilling into everyone's heart.

"James."

"Mr. Holmes, please let me think for a moment... There must be a way to save him, but I just haven't thought of it yet..."

"Do you remember what the witch said before she fainted?"

"She didn't say anything. In fact, she didn't understand anything and hadn't even experienced it."

"The witch said it, she said..."

"Mr. Holmes!"

"What did she say?"

Ivy realized something was wrong; her intuition was always accurate.

Something terrible must have happened here, something about Joshua, something about the witch...

"Don't worry about me, please."

Moriarty turned his face away, and Holmes seemed to wake up from a dream. He glanced at Ivy and then deliberately looked away.

The flames in Ivy's heart grew even more intense, and she was furious, like a gray seagull in the center of a storm.

"Say it!"

"If the connection ritual is forcibly disconnected, the consciousness world will collapse immediately. If he does not escape from the consciousness space in time, he will fall asleep along with the collapsing world, and the time limit is forever..."

Beatrice opened her eyes at some point, her breath was still weak, but loud enough in the quiet environment before the outburst.

"Impossible, this is wrong, Miss Witch... It's not like this, it's not like this..."

"There is no reason. This is something that has no reason..."

"He did pass through the mirror behind the throne, before me, and before the world collapsed..."

"No, no...what's going on? What's going on?!"

"Where the hell is Joshua? Where the hell is he!"

Despair and collapse took over her rationality, and Ivy became hysterical.

Her voice was like that of a trapped beast, accumulating extraordinary power in the small room.

The others were speechless and just stared at the ice boy at the other end of the room.

"Joshua! Can you hear me? I'm back, I'm back! Your mission is complete, you can come back!"

"Don't tease me, I'll be angry, Joshua! Just move a finger, just one finger will do, as long as you can prove that you can hear..."

"Joshua... Joshua! I will never lose my temper with you again. I will never order you around again. Can you please come back? We still have a lot of things to do, Joshua..."

The lake blue color on the hospital bed was motionless, like a natural human fossil.

"Joshua!"

In her haste, Ivy struggled to throw herself forward, but her stiff muscles were not as light and strong as she had imagined. She fell as expected, and crawled forward as well.

“Hey hey hey hey hey——”

"Ms. Ivy!"

"Don't be like that Miss Ivy!"

"Let me help you!"

"Ms. Ivy..."

"Click..."

Amid the hustle and bustle of the crowd, a crisp cracking sound cut through all the noise.

"and many more!"

Everyone heard the small sound and everyone froze in place.

"The ice is cracking."

Victor stated slowly, as if to prove his accuracy, and a series of "cracking" sounds of ice cracking came like mushrooms after rain.

“Click… click click…”

The transparent ice was carved with cracked lines, and Joshua's sleeping face was blurred by the scratches.

In the blur, his eyelashes seemed to be trembling, and his fingers seemed to be curled up...

The blue ice shattered faster and faster, and the crackling sounds were like firecrackers in the cold night, and each sound concealed huge energy.

Everyone in the ward held their breath, waiting for the shattering to gradually slow down, waiting for the last crisp "click" to slowly echo in the silence.

"Boom boom boom——"

With a thunderous roar, the ice suddenly burst out from inside and turned into countless pieces of ice that shot in all directions.

Everyone lowered their heads at the same time, using their broad backs to block the attack of the broken ice.

"Joshua!"

Amid the crackling of icy rain, Victor's rare and urgent words attracted everyone's attention.

Ivy looked up, but her heart choked at the first sight.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she pinched her thighs tightly to prevent herself from losing control of her emotions.

No, Joshua didn't wake up, he floated away...

He didn't just move one finger, but twisted his limbs in strange ways like a stick insect...

His skin was no longer fair, but had turned the color of blood.

His features were no longer smooth. Just as Victor had said, his blood was boiling, scrambling to push open the sebum and bubbling in his blood vessels.

“Hmm…Hmm…”

He looked painful and sobbed unbearably, as if he was having a nightmare from which he would never wake up.

Victor once again cast a large amount of ice, but Joshua's body temperature was too high, and the frost evaporated into fleeting mist the first second it touched his body.

"Hiss, hiss--"

The unicorn in the distance neighed at Joshua, looking nervous and anxious.

"My little yogurt, are you also afraid that the beautiful boy won't come back?"

"Hulu--Hulu--"

The unicorn continued to cry toward the sky, and secretly rolled its eyes while taking a breath.

"Oh! I see. You think they are noisy and you are going to pass out from their annoyance. Fine, fine... I will take you back to Tianchi right away!"

A breeze blew by, and the white color gradually became transparent. It was as quiet and gentle as the wind, and disappeared without a trace.

"Joshua! Please don't scare me, please!"

"Joshua, Joshua! Can you hear me?"

With tears in her eyes, Ivy struggled to climb to the edge of the bed.

She placed Joshua’s palm on her cheek, and before she knew it, her entire palm was wet with hot tears.

As if he sensed something, Joshua gradually stopped humming and his twitching body slowly calmed down.

"They are tears! They are the sincere tears of a young girl!"

Victor, who had witnessed everything, pointed at Ivy, his voice full of shock.

"Are you crazy? Is this a fairy tale? Is it that simple? Tsk... does Ivy have to kiss him, and the prince and princess live happily together in the end?" Holmes said dissatisfiedly.

"Could you please stop making sarcastic remarks all the time? I've tolerated you for so long!" Moriarty retorted impatiently.

"I'm just telling the truth...Oh, James, why do you like Joshua so much!"

"I just can't stand you always bullying him!"

"I just can't stand you always protecting him!"

Warm raindrops drifted in from the window, and the room returned to its original noisy state.

Everyone was attracted by Fomo's noise and no one noticed Joshua quietly opening his eyes.