"Yu Xi, you'd better stay away from Bei Yuan."

Jiang Xinli cut between them, a mother beast shielding her cub, yanking Bei Yuan behind her shadow. She jabbed a finger inches from Nana Toki’s nose.

"Or else..."

"Or else what?"

Nana Toki didn’t buy the act; her voice was cool water on hot iron. "You plan to kill me here?"

Her mouth curved, a blade under silk. "Like when we walked into the fog."

The words dropped like a stone into a pond. Ripples ran through the disinfectant air, bleach-scented and bright.

Nurses who’d drifted over to watch shifted their eyes onto Jiang Xinli, stares like needles through gauze.

They hadn’t expected a sweet-faced girl to do something like that.

Jiang Xinli was still a student, green against a veteran like Nana Toki. No one whispered, no fingers pointed, yet the looks burned. Heat climbed her cheeks like sunrise.

It felt like standing naked in a winter wind, a crowd of strangers measuring her bones.

She bristled. Her finger stabbed the air toward Nana Toki, yet her words slashed at Yu Xi. "Yu Xi, stop slinging mud. You tried to shove me into that monster’s mouth!"

"If you hadn’t wanted me dead, I wouldn’t have done it."

Nana Toki owned it, blunt as a hammer. She ignored the odd, pricking stares.

"If someone wants me dead, I kill her first. Before she can blink."

Her smile thinned, a paper cut that kept bleeding. Her gaze held Jiang Xinli, a judge’s gavel midair. Jiang Xinli’s skin crawled; she broke eye contact fast, like flinching from a flame.

"Quiet!"

The head nurse stepped in, storm-seasoned and steady. She rallied the others with a clap, sending them back to their stations like birds to branches.

"You three, with me. Blood samples."

She led Nana Toki and the other two to a corner, a little harbor under bright lights. "No private grudges here. If something happens, take it to the police station."

Silence settled, heavy as rain-soaked cloth.

Everyone knew crossing the police right now was a bad idea.

Host, your face doesn’t look good. What’s wrong?

The System’s voice stirred in Nana Toki’s head, a ripple under still water.

"Nothing. Just… restless."

A beat of puzzled static. ?

Nana Toki raked her fingers through her hair, irritation crackling like dry straw. The head nurse’s eyes snapped over.

"Why aren’t you rolling up your sleeve?"

Clipboard in hand, her tone was a ruler’s rap on the desk.

"I don’t like blood draws."

Nana Toki lifted her head. Her face was calm, a lake under cloud.

"This isn’t about what you like."

The head nurse eyed her, thinking the girl’s brain had a few screws loose. First time at a police station, talking openly about attempted murder, and now refusing a draw? Even a fool wouldn’t do that.

"I faint at the sight of blood."

Nana Toki held her gaze, steady and clear. "If I pass out and it doesn’t trouble you, I don’t mind."

That gave the head nurse pause. The air tightened, a string pulled taut.

"Do you have proof?"

"No."

Another small silence. The head nurse sighed, pen scratching the clipboard like a cricket in grass. She waved.

"We’ll postpone your blood draw. Go prep for the other tests."

"Mm."

Nana Toki walked to the wall and leaned there, alone in her own shadow. She watched Jiang Xinli and Bei Yuan get their blood taken, eyes distant as stars.

Host faints at the sight of blood?

The System fidgeted, thoughts clicking like abacus beads. It couldn’t recall any sign of that. Last world, you beat someone till he spat blood, and you didn’t blink. Is there something you’re not saying?

"A little, maybe."

Nana Toki rubbed her lower belly. Ever since she’d arrived in this world, she hadn’t eaten. Hunger nipped like a small fox.

I wonder if that woman outside bought me anything.

Her thoughts drifted, leaves on a slow current.

"I’m not fond of doctors and nurses. The saving-people kind."

Eh?

The System didn’t get it. It wanted to ask if refusing a draw was too willful. Then it felt the weight in her mood, and held its tongue.

For the rest of the physical, Nana Toki cooperated without fuss. That surprised the head nurse; she’d expected tricks and dodges, not quiet compliance.

"Are the results out?"

The door swung open. Bai Junhui strode in, steps quick, smoke clinging to him like a second coat. The clean antiseptic air and his tobacco reek clashed like steel on stone.

He looked spent. Busy, all through Nana Toki’s tests.

"All normal. Nothing odd."

The head nurse glanced at his rumpled suit, handed over the board, then reached up and tightened his tie, a rain-slick gesture of habit.

"Busy out there?"

"A bit."

He sent his wife an apologetic look, eyes skimming the pages like wind over reeds. "This fog is too strange. You’re the only one I can trust here."

"Cut the flattery. Any new data on the fog?"

"Experts just told me this." Bai Junhui wet his dry lips, voice low. "People baptized by the fog may gain unbelievable abilities, after a while. Think the stuff you see in sci‑fi movies."

"That’s… a problem."

The head nurse rubbed her temples, pressure like thunder behind cloud. "If this spreads, the city’s full of new threats."

"Yeah."

Bai Junhui sighed, lungs a bellows gone tired. "Power like that, misused, turns streets into tinder."

Their eyes slid toward Nana Toki’s trio. The hint hung in the air like a drawn bow, string humming.