Author: 长洱 / Chang’er
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 299
Lin Chen looked up. The sign for the neurology ward was hanging above his head. The sign looked old, but it had been wiped clean, showing off the black words on the white background.
The ward was incredibly noisy both inside and out, with extra beds crammed into the corridor and the wails of patients and the whispering of their families filling the hallway.
Lin Chen remembered passing by here a little over a month ago. At that time, the neurology ward was very quiet and peaceful, with only the elderly trying hard to walk with staggering steps, attempting to recover their mobility.
But in just a few days, it had transformed into the busiest ward in the entire hospital. The person who had brought him here at that time was now thousands of miles away.
Lin Chen took a step and walked towards the ward.
Despite the surrounding noise, the young man’s clear and determined voice was too distinctive, as if it could pierce through all the time and clamor, bringing him back to a moment in January.
At that time, the young man had forcefully brought him here, analyzing the harm of Zhourui’s new drug to him and anxiously telling him, “If such a drug appeared, many elderly people would be willing to spend all their savings on this new drug without hesitation…”
Lin Chen could almost remember every word the young man had said, even though it could now be proven that the information he had about Zhourui’s new drug was fabricated and distorted by Shen Lian for her own benefit.
But this didn’t stop Lin Chen from cherishing that anxious conversation. A doctor who had already fallen to the bottom of his life and became a vet, still trying his best to uncover the truth and overturn a giant conspiracy; Lin Chen didn’t know how to regard the young man except with some respect.
He stopped in front of a ward.
There was an inpatient doctor holding a selfie stick, discussing the case with a doctor from Dana via video call on his mobile phone.
The call was probably coming to an end, with both sides speaking medical terms that Lin Chen didn’t understand. He could only look against the setting sun, carefully observing the young man in the video.
He had dark skin and a determined look, conversing calmly with his former superior.
“From a clinical point of view, your cases here and some of the patients I’ve come across in Dana seem to have been affected by the same drug, but we’ll still have to wait for the lab results for confirmation.”
“Thanks to Teacher Duan’s long-term efforts, the health conditions in Dana aren’t as pessimistic as you may imagine. We have gathered a considerable number of medical volunteers here…” “The situation with the Borna virus infection is complex, but after more than ten hours of investigation, we indeed found suspected infected individuals, and here is our rough treatment plan…”
It had only been a few days since they last saw each other, but Duan Yang had grown as if in years, suddenly transforming from a green sapling into a towering tree in the rainforest—large and broad, providing shelter for many.
And the hospital doctor who once mocked Duan Yang was now hiding in a corner of the ward, head down, taking notes.
Lin Chen pondered his own life for a moment as the conversation slowly came to an end. That was still Duan Yang, Duan Wanshan’s Duan Yang, Lin Chen was certain.
“That’s it for this video conference. Let’s each go back and summarize the situation, and we’ll check in approximately every 6 hours. Is that okay?” said the chief physician of the municipal hospital.
The young man on the video call nodded. “We will follow your arrangements. If needed, we can also be reached by phone at any time.”
“Okay.”
Just as the call was about to end, Duan Yang suddenly said, “Could you wait a moment? I’d like to speak to Consultant Lin alone, is that okay?”
……
Lin Chen held up his phone, leaning against the wall, striving to center the camera on himself.
After learning that he had been used by Shen Lian from beginning to end, Lin Chen hadn’t had the time to have a deep conversation with Duan Yang. If it were in the past, he might have tried to comfort the other, but the current Duan Yang no longer needed such comfort.
“Consultant Lin, you’ve had a tough few days,” Duan Yang said. He was totally different now, initiating their “one-on-one chat” in a casual way. He truly just wanted to chat casually.
“It’s not me. It’s everyone,” Lin Chen responded.
Duan Yang turned the camera to show Lin Chen the concrete floor, many makeshift beds, and busy medical staff. They varied in skin color and ethnicity but shared the same profession.
Sunlight poured through the wooden window and shone on the standard medical supply cabinet. All the equipment was neatly arranged, and there were respirators and electrocardiographs in the corner. A doctor was wearing a mask and checking on a patient.
“’Everyone’ here is doing well,” Duan Yang said.
In the video, someone looked up at the camera and waved. They were all young doctors, full of vigor, without any gloom on their faces.
“Mm,” replied Lin Chen.
“Captain Xing asked me to take over what Teacher left behind. In fact, I’m totally inexperienced, but the more I encounter these things, the more I realize that I don’t have a deep enough understanding of what kind of life is more meaningful.”
Duan Yang pointed to two instruments in the corner.
“I heard that many places in Dana don’t even have disinfecting alcohol cotton, and they rely on blood pressure monitors and stethoscopes to conduct preoperative examinations for patients. But the actual situation here is much better. The things you see are available at many medical aid points here… I don’t know where Teacher got so much money.”
“It’s not just about money, but also about people,” Lin Chen continued to look at the bustling young medical staff behind Duan Yang.
“Yes, Consultant Lin. There are also students who graduated from famous medical schools around the world. They gave up high-paying jobs to come here. Some people have stayed here for seven or eight years.” Duan Yang turned the camera again to show him a sturdy Latina with curly hair. “She has been here for twelve years. Her family runs a chain of hospitals in a big city. After coming here, she never went back. Now she’s our hospital’s ‘biggest benefactor’.”
In the middle of the conversation, the voluptuous curly-haired middle-aged woman blew Lin Chen a kiss.
Speaking to this point, Duan Yang finally expressed a little regret. “If Teacher could live a few more years, Dana might become a designated internship institution for medical colleges.”
When Duan Yang mentioned “living a few more years”, he only felt nostalgic. He didn’t say anything like, “If only I had gathered the courage to come to Dana to accompany Teacher…” One of the signs of growing up was no longer saying “if only…”
They both fell silent across the video for a while.
Finally, Lin Chen asked, “Is the virus dangerous?”
Duan Yang replied, “It can be controlled for now. If BDV really becomes dangerously mutated, we have A-level protective suits that can be used here. Teacher also built a level-four biosafety lab in Angodo. He’s really amazing.”
“The problem is we’ve seen what he has and know what that thing can make patients turn into. If they attack medical staff, do you have countermeasures?”
Duan Yang was silent for a while, then answered from another angle. “For Teacher, those Gaomeng people are all patients, so they are the same to us.”
“And…” Duan Yang continued, “I suspect that among the Gaomeng people saved by Teacher, there may be cases of people recovering from the new strain of the Borna virus. This might help us extract interferon or develop vaccines in the future.”
Lin Chen didn’t point out Duan Yang’s oblique reference. He just said, “I understand.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help much with Shen Lian’s matter.”
Duan Yang referred to Su Fengzi’s investigation, unable to find a breakthrough from him to crack Shen Lian’s defenses. Lin Chen, looking at Duan Yang’s coal-black face on the screen, suddenly had a clear line of thought.
Finally, he spoke much longer. “Solving the case is not your job. Anyway, don’t overstep your boundaries.”
Duan Yang was helpless, and it seemed someone was calling him in the simple hospital.
The young man took a deep breath, responded, wiped the camera lens with his finger, and said, “Consultant Lin, then, goodbye.”
“We’ll meet again,” Lin Chen responded, his gaze resting on all the different medical staff in the room, of different skin colors and ages.
……
The screen darkened, and night fell.
Lin Chen stood under the light, not even having enough time to return the phone to the doctor he was just with, and immediately dialed Su Fengzi’s number.
From the receiver came the annoyed complaints. “Shixiong, we have already gone through all the records of Shen Lian and Duan Wanshan. I have visited each of her classmates. You must know, Shen Lian is such a loner; who would care if she had a different mood one day or for what reason she had a feud with Duan Wanshan? No one cares!”
Lin Chen was stunned.
It actually wasn’t that long, but it felt like he hadn’t heard this voice for most of his life.
This kind of incessant chatter, no one else would do aside from Fu Hao.
Su Fengzi was investigating Shen Lian and Duan Wanshan’s past in Yongchuan, and the one who would naturally accompany him was Fu Hao, and perhaps many colleagues he used to know.
Lin Chen calmed his emotions, but before he could respond, Su Fengzi’s loud voice came from the background. “Have all the consumption records been checked?”
The responses on the phone were intermittent, and there were indeed many acquaintances there.
Su Fengzi’s voice got closer to the phone. “Finished babbling, Professor Fu? Give me the phone back.”
He said it angrily as the phone was handed over.
Su Fengzi must have been driven mad by the old case from years ago; it must be frighteningly difficult to handle such a temperamental matter.
Lin Chen also heard the sounds of rapid mouse clicking and paper shuffling; the number of people he was directing was clearly more than he had imagined.
“Where are you?” Lin Chen asked.
“Where else could I be, the university. I found a classroom to store all the related materials. You can come here and experience the meaning of the term ‘vast and comprehensive’.”
“Don’t you know about Shen Lian’s suicide?”
“I know, but what does it have to do with me?” Su Fengzi retorted. “Just because the girl is dead, does that mean the earth should stop spinning?”
Su Fengzi was in a bad mood, and his tone was harsh. Lin Chen hadn’t expected that Su Fengzi, of all people, would decide to continue the investigation after hearing of Shen Lian’s suicide.
Everyone knew that achieving a victory in the negotiation with Shen Lian, her full cooperation, and getting all the drug research data and even the virus data was the ideal path to victory, so that the other party wouldn’t have any power to pose an absolute threat to them.
And the prerequisite for this victory was to use Duan Wanshan to pry open Shen Lian’s defenses, so the reason why Shen Lian was so concerned about Duan Wanshan was extremely important.
But when Shen Lian committed suicide, this path was almost completely closed.
Yet Su Fengzi simply didn’t see the wall right in front of him and tried to ram right into it.
This was too unrealistic, too unlike Su Fengzi.
But Lin Chen thought this kind of unrealistic persistence was actually quite common. There had been many unsolved cases that were solved, but it was nothing more than tirelessly seeking that one-in-a-million chance.
And even now, it wasn’t about hope anymore; it was about something simpler, more basic—there had to be a reason for this.
“If where Shen Lian committed suicide successfully has nothing to do with you, why haven’t you found the answer yet?” Lin Chen asked.
Su Fengzi got even more irritated. “Reality is not a well-scripted detective film, where someone will inevitably leave a trace, and then that trace will inevitably be discovered by the detective and used to solve the case.” Su Fengzi paused, then continued, “I have used the method of situational recall on all related parties, but as you know, this is like fishing for a needle that may not really exist in the vast domain of the human brain without any direction.”
“I think at this point, we might all need something else.”
“What?” Su Fengzi.
“Some faith.” Lin Chen paused for a moment. He might still be in that narrow, dimly lit restroom, but it was as if a bright light had torn through the mottled, ugly mirror paper and shone through.
“<The Secret> says, as long as you believe something exists, it will definitely exist.”
“You don’t believe that good will always triumph over evil.”
“I didn’t believe it before.”
“Now?”
“Now I wonder if it’s too late for me to grasp at straws.”
“What do you want me to do?” Su Fengzi responded very quickly. “Did you find it?”
Lin Chen wasn’t sure yet if he could find it.
But after listening to Xing Conglian’s summary and analysis after connecting all the series of events, he believed that somehow, they were bound to get the key that would solve all the problems.
So he said, “Shen Lian once mentioned very clearly in our conversation that she was sick in the head.” Lin Chen paused. “They are very arrogant, thinking that their genetic abnormalities make their brains different from normal people, but using ‘sick’—this is obviously self-deprecating. Why would she think that?”
Su Fengzi fell silent.
Lin Chen continued, “Shen Lian should have a clear understanding of her own brain condition, so we need to check all possible opportunities for Shen Lian to have a brain scan, such as during medical experiments or when she was hospitalized for injuries, and compare the overlaps between Duan Wanshan and Shen Lian on these ‘opportunities’, combined with Shen Lian’s campus card records, absence records, and sick leave records, to see if there are any abnormal connections. If we are lucky, we might be able to pinpoint the real key point. Also……”
Before Lin Chen could finish, Su Fengzi hung up the call very cleanly. The clicking sound still lingered in his ear.
Lin Chen slowly lowered his hand.
Also…
Although I don’t know why we are bound to win, there have always been many people around us, including you.
From dusk till dawn, from when Shen Lian was still in critical condition to when all her vital signs stabilized, Lin Chen finally got a call back.
Su Fengzi’s voice was rough and hoarse, as if he had been crying. “I found it.”
He said.
When Lin Chen turned on his computer, he received a whole set of experimental record documents entitled “Analysis of Brain Maps for Movement Disorder Videos”, which included complete experimental records, including brain map analysis for the experimental group and the control group.
Lin Chen clicked open each brain map one by one—those varied yet similar brain activity diagrams caught all his attention. When he reached the end, Lin Chen found another document.
That was the correspondence table between each brain map’s anonymous code number and the subject’s actual name.
When he saw the code number 006573 and its owner, Lin Chen suddenly understood.
Just as he was about to close the document, he saw another code.
006501.
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