The Forgotten Bloodline

Chapter 4

At almost the same time, the university released its official investigation results.

All students found to have been involved received two-month suspensions.

The decision immediately sparked debate. Many considered the punishment too lenient, while others believed it was sufficient.

But before the debate could grow any further, coverage of Eric’s case began disappearing from public view.

Old news articles were taken down.

Discussions on social media began to fade.

Major accounts that had previously spoken out about the case abruptly turned their attention to other issues.

Little by little, the public was forced to accept the university’s decision as the end of the matter.

But Andreas was not satisfied.

As far as he was concerned, the case could not simply end there.

He had considered investigating on his own, but his family quickly forbade him from getting involved.

They even made him stay home all day to prevent him from doing anything that might get him into trouble.

But as evening approached, Dominic suddenly called and told him that Eric had disappeared from the hospital.

At first, Andreas thought Dominic was joking. But after hearing that Eric’s hospital room was empty and no one knew where he was, he immediately left the house.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Andreas headed straight for Eric’s room. The door stood wide open.

The bed was empty. The sheets had been changed, and not a single one of Eric’s belongings remained.

Andreas turned to Dominic.

“The room next door?”

“Already checked.”

“The ICU?”

“Checked there too.”

“Upstairs?”

Dominic shook his head.

“He’s not there.”

Andreas immediately went to the nurses’ station.

“Where was Eric Brown transferred?”

The nurse checked her computer. A few seconds passed, and her brow slowly furrowed.

“One moment…”

She began typing again, but her expression only grew more confused.

“Why isn’t it here…?”

She tried pulling up his records once more. Still nothing.

“I’m sorry. That patient’s name is no longer in the system.”

Andreas went still.

“That’s impossible. I visited him myself last night.”

The nurse looked at the screen again.

“But there’s no record of him. I can’t even find his treatment history.”

Andreas and Dominic exchanged glances.

—

Elsewhere, Eric slowly opened his eyes.

The ceiling above him was no longer the one from his previous hospital room.

He frowned.

This room was much larger. White and dark brown dominated the furnishings, while a large window along one side overlooked a row of skyscrapers.

The air was cool, and everything was quiet.

There were no sounds from other patients or the bustle of a hospital corridor.

Eric slowly sat up and leaned against the headboard. His eyes swept over every corner of the room.

There was even a small sitting area separate from the space around his bed. This was clearly no ordinary hospital room.

Eric had never even imagined that a hospital room could be this luxurious.

“Where am I…?”

The longer he studied his surroundings, the more confused he became.

A few moments later, Eric called for Legacy Intelligence.

The transparent screen immediately appeared before him.

“What happened? Why am I here, and who brought me?”

Text began appearing on the screen.

[Current location: Trinity Hospital.]

[Room classification: VVIP.]

[The patient’s transfer was arranged by the Brown family.]

The room suddenly seemed even quieter.

“The Brown family…?”

That name again. The same name the system had shown him a few days earlier. So none of this was a coincidence.

His chest tightened.

But before he could ask anything else, footsteps sounded outside the room, followed by two voices drawing closer.

Eric immediately turned toward the door.

Without thinking, he dismissed Legacy Intelligence’s screen. The transparent display vanished instantly.

He then lay back down and closed his eyes. Not because he wanted to sleep, but because he wanted to find out who had come to see him.

Click.

The door slowly opened.

Two men stepped inside.

Seeing Eric still lying in bed, they stopped.

The younger man studied Eric’s face for a few moments before speaking quietly. “It looks like he still hasn’t woken up.”

His gaze lingered on Eric, as though he were looking at someone who had died long ago and suddenly reappeared before him.

The two men pulled chairs up beside the bed.

The scrape of the chair legs broke the silence.

They sat without another word, simply watching the young man lying in bed.

Meanwhile, Andreas and Dominic emerged from the hospital’s administrative office with grim expressions.

Neither spoke.

At the end of the corridor, Andreas stopped and took out his phone. He opened his contacts and stared at one name for a long time.

Xavia.

Dominic glanced at the screen.

“Are you going to call her?”

Andreas hesitated for a few moments before nodding.

The phone rang. A moment later, she answered.

“Hello?”

“It’s Andreas.”

“What is it?”

Andreas looked down the hospital corridor, where people hurried back and forth.

“Eric’s missing. His room is empty, and his hospital records are gone too. We’ve looked everywhere, but no one knows where he was transferred.”

The other end of the line fell silent.

“What do you mean, missing?”

“I don’t know either. I wanted to keep looking, but my family won’t let me get any more involved. They said this is no longer any of my business.”

Andreas paused before continuing.

“Then I thought of you. I know the Jones family has connections. Could you help me find Eric, just this once?”

There were several more seconds of silence.

“I can’t promise anything,” Xavia replied. “But I’ll try.”

“Thank you.”

The call ended.

Andreas slipped his phone back into his pocket.

Dominic turned to him.

“Well?”

“She only said she’d try.”

The two continued down the hospital corridor without another word.

About an hour later, Andreas’s phone rang again.

Xavia’s name appeared on the screen.

He answered immediately.

“Did you find anything?”

“I asked my uncle for help,” Xavia replied quietly. “He managed to get some information from the hospital. There’s one thing he was able to confirm.”

“What?”

“Eric is no longer there.”

“We already know that.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Xavia paused. “Someone came to get him.”

Andreas frowned.

“Someone came to get him?”

“Yes. From what I was told, someone came and arranged his entire transfer. That person claimed to be a member of his family.”

Andreas fell silent.

He turned to Dominic, who met his gaze with a bewildered expression.

“That’s impossible. Eric doesn’t have any family left.”

“I’m just telling you what I found out,” Xavia said. “My uncle said that after those people arrived, all the hospital’s paperwork changed.”

“Then where did they take him?”

“I don’t know. That’s as much as he could find out.”

Silence settled over both ends of the call.

A few seconds later, Xavia spoke softly. “I’m sorry. That’s all I could do.”

Andreas lowered his head for a moment.

“You’ve already done more than enough. Thank you.”

Beep. Beep.

Andreas stared at his phone for a few moments before slipping it back into his pocket.

Dominic finally asked, “So his family really came to get him?”

“I don’t know.”

Andreas looked down the busy hospital corridor.

“But if he still has family, why are they only showing up now?”