“Okay,” Sylvia responded and hung up the phone.
In her heart, she silently hoped that Evie and Jasper were safe and sound.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave to pick them up herself.
Jenna had regained consciousness but still needed careful monitoring for rejection reactions and had to continuously take anti-rejection medication.
Post-surgery, she needed six months to a year of rest and could not engage in heavy labor. There was a risk of relapse within the first year, but if stable after three years, she would be considered cured.
In daily life, she had to avoid fatigue, maintain a regular diet, and take various medications on time. Anti-rejection drugs needed to be taken for life.
Particular attention had to be paid to avoid catching a cold.
Even with a bone marrow transplant, patients with this condition needed lifelong medication to fight rejection. Compared to ordinary people, their lives were still quite challenging.
Sylvia had been staying with Jenna in the transplant ward for the past few days to take care of her.
Mrs. Wright and Brayden would chat with them outside the ward every day.
Sometimes Franklin would also come by.
In her spare time, Sylvia would help other doctors or nurses handle other patients’ situations.
In short, she was so busy that she had no time or energy to pay attention to her own appearance.
She checked the time; it was almost time for lunch delivery.
Soon, Mrs. Wright brought over a homemade lunch.
The nurse who brought it into the ward couldn’t stop praising it.
“This meal is really nutritious and suitable for patients!”
Sylvia opened the lunch boxes one by one and smiled, “Yes, it’s really considerate.”
After lunch, Jenna fell asleep again but soon started vomiting, throwing up seven or eight times within two hours.
Almost all the food she ate was thrown up, but for her recovery, she had to eat again after vomiting.
If she couldn’t eat, they would dissolve the food in water and feed it to her with a syringe.
At five in the afternoon, they started an IV drip, and she finally stopped vomiting and fell asleep from exhaustion.
Seeing Jenna suffer so much, Sylvia felt extremely sad.
The woman on the hospital bed was tormented by illness to the point of being unrecognizable, curled up small and thin on the bed, breathing evenly.
Sylvia gently stroked her cheek, her eyes filled with pain.
Hurry up and get better!
The most feared complication at this stage was post-transplant lung infection. If it occurred, antifungal medication for the lungs would be required for a long time.
So, patients like this must not catch a cold.
The lungs must be strictly protected.
Sylvia sighed and looked out the window, wondering how Evie and Jasper were doing now.
Middle Evroya region.
The night was so deep it seemed impenetrable.
A group of tall men moved quickly through the darkness.
The young man leading them keenly observed their surroundings, occasionally urging his comrades to keep up.
About twenty minutes later, Jasper led them to the alley where Evie was hiding.
The alley was pitch black. Evie was huddled behind a pile of firewood with Cedric in her arms. She didn’t know whose firewood it was.
She held Cedric with one arm and covered his mouth with the other, fearing he might make a noise and attract attention.
Cedric’s round eyes stared at the group of men entering the alley. He stayed motionless in Evie’s arms. He was very scared but knew he could only rely on Evie now.
He was like a homeless cub seeking shelter from Evie.
Jasper cautiously led his men into the alley, searching around but finding no trace of Evie. He frowned. Where were they?
He took out his phone and sent Evie a message on WeChat, “We’re here. Where are you?”
Evie’s phone vibrated. She immediately took it out to check the message. “There’s a group of men in black in the alley. Is that you?”
Jasper quickly replied, “Yes.”
Evie breathed a sigh of relief and emerged from behind the firewood with Cedric. “Jasper!”
Hearing her voice, Jasper turned around and quickly walked towards her. “Are you okay? Any injuries?”
“No,” Evie glanced at him, confirming he was unharmed before feeling relieved. “Let’s get out of here.”
The place was so dark it felt like being blindfolded.
If Evie and Cedric hadn’t been in the dark for so long, they would have had to feel their way out.
Jasper pulled Evie closer and said coldly, “Turn on your phone’s flashlight.”
One of the men behind him immediately turned on his phone’s flashlight to act as a torch.
Otherwise, it was too dark to see anything.
One man said, “I have a lighter.”
As he was about to light it, Evie’s voice suddenly sounded. She frowned and said slowly, “I smell gunpowder. We need to leave quickly!”
Their movements might have already been discovered by someone who had set an ambush outside the alley.
“Are they planning to blow us up?” one man asked nervously, stopping his action immediately.
Evie sniffed again. “There’s a faint smell of gunpowder.”
As a shooting champion, she was sensitive to gunpowder and bullets.
“Is there really gunpowder?” Jasper took a deep breath and indeed smelled something pungent.
He frowned deeply. Although the smell wasn’t strong, if they had lit the lighter just now…
His eyes flashed coldly. “Move slowly towards the exit. Be light on your feet.”
If their pursuers had indeed planted explosives outside the walls, they had to be extremely cautious.
“Yes,” came several responses as quiet footsteps began moving stealthily around them.
Everyone started quietly moving towards the exit.
Cedric clung to Evie, sweating in fear. Were they going to be blown up here?
He thought of his parents again.
Little did he know that his parents were barely alive on two men’s backs at that moment.
He didn’t cry; tears welled up in his eyes but he bit his lip hard. He was a man; he wouldn’t cry.
He wanted to grow up quickly and become as strong as Jasper! To avenge his parents!
They were almost at the alley’s exit when suddenly there was a series of loud bangs. The walls of the alley began collapsing rapidly towards them.
“Damn! They detonated the explosives!”
Blinding flames shot into the sky as a massive mushroom cloud rose up.
Dust and debris from the exploding walls flew everywhere.
Jasper held Evie and Cedric tightly as he ran forward. “Run!”
His comrades immediately followed suit.
Everyone ran frantically forward as the collapsing walls chased them like dominoes falling one after another.
It looked like they were about to be crushed!
At that moment, a large truck suddenly appeared at the alley’s exit, blocking their way out completely.
They couldn’t get out!
“What now?” Evie anxiously looked at the blinding headlights ahead. Everyone reflexively closed their eyes and shielded themselves from the light, unable to adapt to its brightness immediately.
“Damn! Get on the truck!” Jasper’s pupils contracted as he threw Evie and Cedric onto the truck.
Evie used the truck’s wheels as leverage while holding Cedric tightly. With a few jumps, she landed on top of the truck cab.
“Stay here,” she said as she reached out to help her comrades up.
Jasper followed closely behind, first helping Mr. and Mrs. Hogan onto the truck roof before assisting others.
But just as they all got onto the truck roof, all the walls behind them collapsed with continuous explosions.
“Get off! The truck will explode too!” Jasper shouted urgently. Without pausing for breath or hesitation, everyone jumped off the truck to escape again.
“Go!” Evie held Cedric tightly as she ran without looking back.
Everyone else also ran frantically for their lives.
Just as they jumped off, there was a loud bang! As Jasper predicted, the truck exploded!
Flames shot into the sky as smoke and dust filled the air.
Covered in dust and dirt, they continued running desperately forward.
But after running only a few hundred meters, there was suddenly a series of gunshots from a small forest ahead of them.
Fortunately, everyone reacted quickly by rolling on the ground and hiding aside immediately.
“You can’t escape! Surrender now,” a loud voice called out from outside. “Hand over those named Hogan and we’ll spare your lives!”
Jasper and his men all frowned deeply in unison.
The atmosphere grew tense again.
They were surrounded.
“These guys are smart; they’ve blocked us again,” Evie whispered coldly while huddling next to Jasper.
It seemed their pursuers weren’t amateurs either; anticipating they hadn’t been killed by explosives so they ambushed them here instead.
“There aren’t many of them; just a small group,” Jasper observed quietly after glancing at those emerging from the forest.
There weren’t many outside; just a small team which made breaking through not too difficult.
“We need to break out first; this place is too unsafe,” Evie gritted her teeth. “We can’t just sit here waiting.”
Everyone nodded in agreement simultaneously.
Jasper pulled out a handgun he had taken from an assassin earlier and fired two or three shots accurately taking down enemies around them first before flipping over himself next followed by others one after another landing on their feet amidst approaching footsteps proving more enemies were coming closer now too heavy indicating larger numbers arriving soon enough too late already though since…
“Split up; head north together,” Jasper ordered coldly pulling along Evie immediately charging into dark forest leaving only those words behind…