Her IV drip had been removed.
Where was she?
"Carol."
Clark burst out of the room, imdiately rushing to ask the nurse on that floor, "Where did the patient in bed 308 go?"
"I have no idea."
Carol had already been out of danger since last night, shifted from the ICU to a regular ward. It was the early morning shift change, and no nurse had noticed where she had gone.
Clark was anxious, suddenly rembering what Carol had ntioned earlier.
She’d said: Yesterday at the ICU door.
Even though she hadn’t finished her sentence, Clark had a bad feeling. She must have overheard his conversation with his parents and decided to leave.
He frantically hit the elevator’s down button, but seeing it still stuck on the 21st floor, with no sign of moving, he ran down the stairs, searching everywhere once he reached the ground floor.
"Carol."
People were everywhere, the falling snowflakes as dense as feathers, obstructing his vision.
Clark’s eyes turned red, and among the crowd, he couldn’t find his Carol.
Ignoring the biting cold wind that made his wounds ache, he pulled out his cell phone, repeatedly dialing Carol’s number.
The automated voice just kept saying: I’m sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off.
She had turned off her phone.
She was missing again!
Tears started to fill Clark’s eyes. This feeling was too similar to when she had disappeared before.
He was desperate, not knowing where to find her.
Would Carol go back to the Mystic Oak House to pack her things if she was leaving?
Thinking of this, Clark rushed out of the hospital, nearly getting hit by a taxi. He opened the passenger door, "Mystic Oak House, fast!"
The taxi driver looked puzzled. "Sorry, sir, there’s still a passenger in the backseat."
Clark turned to see a woman holding her feverish child, on their way to the hospital.
The young mother, startled by Clark’s urgency and red eyes, quickly got out of the car with her child.
"Please step on it."
Clark, suddenly recalling sothing, pulled out his phone again, calling the staff at Mystic Oak House.
"Has Carol returned?"
"Huh? Has she returned? I haven’t seen her."
The housekeeper sensed sothing was off in Clark’s tone, quickly responding, "I might have been busy and didn’t notice. I’ll get so people to look around."
The mansion was huge. If Carol wanted to avoid the staff, with her agility, it was entirely possible.
"If you see her, you must stop her."
"Yes."
After hanging up, Clark urged the driver again, to which the driver responded helplessly, "I’m already going as fast as I can."
Finally arriving at Mystic Oak House, Clark dashed in, grabbing the first staff mber he saw.
"Has Carol returned?"
"No, I’ve checked the surveillance. She didn’t co back."
"She’s not here."
Clark rushed to the bedroom. Everything was as usual.
The ntion of "surveillance" by the staff reminded him of sothing he had overlooked in his panic.
He imdiately accessed the hospital’s surveillance for that floor, discovering Carol had left by herself, pushing open the fire escape door while he was out getting breakfast.
No one in the corridor had noticed her then.
There was no CCTV in the fire escape.
But he didn’t see Carol on his way down.
So, where did Carol go?
Clark could only hack into the first-floor surveillance, but at that ti, Carol was nowhere to be found.
Neither was she on the rooftop.
The more Clark investigated, the more anxious he beca. There were blind spots in the hospital’s CCTV coverage. With Carol’s skills, if she wanted to leave, avoiding all caras wasn’t impossible.
Clark called his subordinates again.
"Keep an eye on the train station, bus station, and the airport for any sign of Carol. If you see her, stop her. She might be in disguise or using a new ID to buy tickets. In any case, rember her face. Don’t let her leave Sumrfield!"
"Got it."
"Don’t hurt her when you stop her. We’ll discuss everything when I get there."
"Understood."
After hanging up, Clark suddenly thought of Logan and Taylor in the morgue.
Would Carol go to see them?
With that thought, he rushed back to the hospital in his car from the garage. But when he pushed open the morgue door, there was no one inside.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
Where on earth did Carol go?
Despair, pain, and fear all surged up at this mont. Clark didn’t know how he managed to pick up his phone and dial his sister’s number.
"Rose, did Carol contact you?"
Clark’s eyes were brimming with tears. "She..."
"Carol? She’s right in front of . What’s going on?"
Rosemary noticed Clark’s voice was choked with emotion.
Hearing this, Clark asked in disbelief, "Where are you?"
"We’re in the small pavilion in the hospital’s first-floor garden."
Rosemary had noticed Carol standing alone in the pavilion when she arrived at the hospital. She wanted to ask what was going on, but just as she greeted Carol, Clark’s call ca in.
"Wait there for . I’ll be right there."
Before hanging up, Clark added, "Keep an eye on her for . Don’t let her leave."
Rosemary was a bit confused, but she guessed sothing was going on. After ending the call, she put her coat on Carol.
"You’re still recovering. Don’t catch a cold, otherwise Clark will be worried."
Carol tried to take it off to give it back, but Rosemary forcibly put it back on her, pretending to be serious.
"I don’t have ti to save you again."
Carol couldn’t help but give a weak smile. "Thank you."
"It’s Grandpa Beck you should be thanking. He did us a huge favor."
Rosemary rembered that night — Grandpa Beck rushed to the ICU door with the antidote, saving Carol’s life in the nick of ti.
If it weren’t for that antidote, the outco would have been unthinkable.
"What happened with you and Clark?"
Rosemary looked at her gloomy face. "Did you two have a fight?"
Carol gave a pale smile and shook her head.
She was willing to explain, but Clark didn’t give her a chance.
"Carol."
From afar, Clark saw Carol, draped in Rose’s coat, standing in the pavilion.
In the midst of falling snow, Clark put his coat on his sister, then turned to Carol with tear-filled eyes.
"You silly girl, where did you run off to? Do you know how worried I was?"
Before Carol could say anything, Clark scooped her up in his arms.
"It’s freezing out here. What if you catch a cold?"
Clark carried her towards the ward, his eyes red and teary, even his voice was choked up.
"If it wasn’t for Rose finding you, where would I even begin to look?"
Carol looked into his eyes. "Are you crying?"
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