I bought a secret manual of the Hehuan Sect for ten yuan.

"The scope of focus is so broad, eleven subjects, and there are only ten days or so to review them all. How can we possibly keep up?"

"You can tell. I should have played fewer games and skipped fewer classes."

"How about we ask Qin Ge? He helped us review last semester, and his notes were even more useful than the teacher's highlights!"

"That's true, but who's going to go and do it? I can't bring myself to do it!"

"Being embarrassed is better than failing the exam, right?"

"I'm not going! Although we didn't do anything last night, it was clearly biased towards Yang He. How can I ask Qin Ge for help now?"

"..."

Liu Yang and Song Yuan complained all the way back to their dormitory, but both fell silent when Qin Ge was mentioned.

Opening the door and finding Qin Ge gone, I felt a sense of relief.

"Liu Yang, look at this, it looks like Qin Ge's notes!"

Song Yuan pointed to the notebooks on Qin Ge's desk, somewhat excited.

Liu Yang quickly stepped forward and said, "That's right, Qin Ge uses this kind of notebook to take notes. I even borrowed his from him at the end of last semester."

The two exchanged a glance, and Liu Yang continued, "Don't think about it anymore. Have you forgotten what happened last night?"

"Qin Ge said that no one can touch his things without his permission!"

After a moment of silence, Liu Yang said again, "Why don't we ask Qin Ge?"

Immediately, he sent a message to Qin Ge.

Liu Yang felt that he definitely wouldn't be able to say it in person, but he could still send the message shamelessly.

Half an hour passed, and Liu Yang checked his phone several times, but still hadn't received a reply from Qin Ge.

He sighed, "Let's just forget about it. In Qin Ge's eyes, we're just in cahoots with Zhu Yang."

"If I were him, I wouldn't give it to him either!"

Song Yuan put down his book and turned around. "What are you muttering?"

"Has Qin Ge still not replied to my message?"

"We still need to think of a way. Look at this book, it's almost as thick as a dictionary, with so many important points. There's simply not enough time!"

Liu Yang rolled his eyes. "All you do is offer advice. Why don't you give him a call?"

"Qin Ge doesn't owe us anything, so it's normal for him not to give it to us!"

"On the contrary, he's been helping us for the past year, bringing us meals, answering attendance in class, lending us notes..."

"Have we helped him in any way?"

As we were talking, my phone vibrated twice.

Liu Yang quickly opened the message to check, "Qin Ge replied!"

He said we could take the notes if we wanted to use them, and that he wouldn't be back for the next few days. He also asked us to help him out if there were any room checks.

"That's great! Qin Ge is really loyal!" Song Yuan immediately got up and walked towards Qin Ge's table.

Song Yuan frowned slightly as he held Qin Ge's notebook. "Liu Yang, how come Qin Ge's notebook is here by such a coincidence? Could he have left it for us on purpose?"

"What do you mean by helping with room checks? I think he was just saying that offhand. It's already finals; the chances of a room check are lower than the chances of getting into a car accident!"

He lowered his voice, "Aren't we making a huge mistake?"

"Qin Ge is actually a very good person, and he's been very kind to us. It's Yang He who seems to have gone a bit too far."

"Qin Ge was placed on probation, but Yang He got away scot-free. And it was Yang He who started the attack last night!"

Liu Yang remained silent for a while before lowering his voice and asking, "What do you think Qin Ge has been busy with lately?"

"He's skipping classes and not going back to the dorm; he's never done this before!"

"Do you remember what he said he was going to do when he left home a few days ago?"

"It seems he hasn't come back since he left that day. Did something happen to him?"

Song Yuan thought about it carefully, "He seemed to have said he was going to the hospital for something..."

"Yes! Shuguang Hospital!"

The two of them froze, their eyes meeting.

The next morning, Liu Yang and Song Yuan went to Shuguang Hospital.

"I'm sorry, but hospitals cannot arbitrarily access other people's examination or physical examination information."

"These are personal and sensitive information, and can only be accessed by the patient or with a power of attorney and identification documents from both parties."

"I'll let it slide since you two are young. Otherwise, I could have called the police, do you understand?"

"Let's go, stop fooling around here."

The staff at the Shuguang Hospital service desk were very displeased after hearing the purpose of Liu Yang and Song Yuan's visit, and reprimanded them without any politeness.

"I know what we're doing is against the rules." Liu Yang had anticipated this. He pulled out his ID card and student ID and placed them in front of the staff.

"These are my identification documents. Qin Ge and I are indeed classmates, and even roommates."

"Doctor, we don't need to see Qin Ge's medical records or physical examination reports. We just want to know if he has any illness?"

"Qin Ge hasn't been doing well lately, and we know this because we're concerned for his safety."

"We're just worried that something might happen to him, and that he might do something rash, being all alone and helpless in the East China Sea."

"Human life is at stake, can't you make an exception?"

Seeing that the staff remained unmoved, he continued, "How about this, could you please check on Qin Ge's condition first?"

"Then let's see if it's convenient for you to tell us, okay?"

"Are you really his classmates?" The staff member hesitated. "Why don't you just ask him directly?"

Liu Yang was speechless. If he could ask, would he still be coming to you guys?

"Really, really!" Song Yuan quickly took out his phone. "Look, this is a photo of us in class, and this is one we took in the dorm."

"Take a look at the situation first. As long as you're sure Qin Ge is alright, you don't have to tell us."

The staff member took out a notebook and said, "Please register this, and I'll check it."

"Thank you very much." Liu Yang took the notebook and quickly started writing.

A few minutes later, the staff member closed the computer screen, his face slightly grim. "Pancreatic cancer, late stage."

He sighed, "So young, what a pity."

"It's rare for him to have classmates like you, and that's why I'm making an exception to tell you."

Pancreatic cancer?!

Liu Yang and Song Yuan were both stunned.

"Doctor, are you sure there's no mistake? He's only twenty years old!"

"The chances of getting pancreatic cancer at this age are indeed very low, but not entirely impossible, sigh."

"Doctor, is it possible that it's a misdiagnosis? Has Qin Ge come for a follow-up appointment?"

"That's all I can tell you, and it's already against the rules. I understand how you feel, but please understand me too. The hospital has regulations."

The two left the hospital in silence and came to a crossroads, still somewhat dazed.

"What do we do now? Should we look for Qin Ge?"

"What do you want to talk to him about? Tell him we're here to investigate him at the hospital?"

"That's true. He's obviously not saying anything because he doesn't want others to pity him, but are we just going to do nothing about it?"

"Let's wait until he gets back. We'll find an excuse to invite him to dinner and talk things out slowly."