The moment the door opened, a strong smell of disinfectant rushed out, trying its best to mask the undeniably rotten stench.
But Wu Jue was not an ordinary person. Even though the rotten smell in the ward had been diluted to the point that ordinary people wouldn’t notice even after staying inside for an hour, he couldn’t help but want to cover his nose before even entering.
Without even meeting the person, he was already certain that his earlier assumptions were correct.
The person inside had their Fate altered, and it was done using the most ruthless method, extracting every ounce of value one could be extracted from a person.
Otherwise, the rotten stench wouldn’t be so intense as to pierce his nose even through a mask.
The light in the ward was dim. Even though it was a bright sunny day, the curtains were drawn, with only a small bedside lamp illuminating the face of the woman half-reclined in the hospital bed.
She held a pen in her hand, with a small tabletop in front of her, tremblingly writing on it.
Initially mistaken for the nurses and doctors who came daily these past few days to urge payment, He Qingwen’s hand didn’t stop as she weakly began, "Don’t rush me, listen first. I’m writing a will. I heard there’s a department in your hospital dedicated to receiving the bodies of patients with strange diseases. Could you please give me an application form to fill out while I still have the strength? After deducting the medical expenses, please pass this will and the compensation for my body to my daughter when you find her."
Her tone was as calm as discussing the day’s fine weather.
Wu Jue’s gaze shifted to her pen-holding hand, where thin and wrinkled fingers were covered with numerous purplish-black spots. His gaze moved upwards to her almost bald, graying hair, and a face equally full of wrinkles and spots, easily mistaken for someone over seventy or eighty.
No one would ever associate her with the elegant woman in the photo, who appeared only thirty or forty years old.
In just four years, this person before him seemed to have aged forty years.
This is the horror of being subjected to Magic.
He Qingwen’s hand paused on the writing. She finally recognized that the visitor wasn’t the expected doctor or nurse and laboriously looked towards the bedside.
Dressed in a navy tracksuit, black baseball cap, and black mask, only a pair of long, clear eyes was visible. In the moment their eyes met, she felt a sudden clarity crashing through her increasingly muddled mind.
It was reminiscent of the wooden fish sound she once heard at a temple with her husband and daughter.
Summoning her energy, she asked, "Who are you?"
Wu Jue’s original intention was merely to confirm his and Shen Yunqing’s speculation, but he hadn’t expected the victim’s condition to be this severe. He hesitated whether to proceed with his initial plan or directly reveal the truth to the person in front of him.
However, deviating from the plan could lead to dire consequences if Ms. He were to be overly shocked and perish unexpectedly, leaving him at fault.
After silently reciting ’Amitabha,’ he decided to compromise for safety’s sake.
"I am a friend of Xiao Tao. She’s been very busy with work lately and can’t get away, so she asked me to visit you on her behalf."
The young man’s peaceful aura seemed to have an unexpected effect. The closer he stood to her, the more her constant pains seemed to lessen, diminishing any sense of suspicion.
"Oh, a friend of that Xiao Tao girl, she indeed has a demanding job, sometimes can’t even answer her phone. Despite my advice to find other work, she insists on sticking with it. Young man, thank you for visiting. My current state hasn’t frightened you, has it?"
Wu Jue shook his head, his voice carrying a barely perceptible touch of pity, "Not at all, I’m also a doctor, having seen many strange ailments."
"A doctor, huh? That’s a good profession. You’re so young, truly remarkable!"
Wu Jue felt his face warm slightly beneath the mask at the compliment and quickly interjected, "May I check your pulse?"
"You’re a traditional Chinese medicine doctor?"
"Xiao Tao’s father was also a traditional Chinese medicine doctor," He Qingwen’s voice took on a more intimate tone, masking the shadow, placing her wrist on the small table, "Go ahead."
She assumed the young man was merely curious about her unusual condition and didn’t expect a cure.
After almost four years, she had moved from initial hope to complete despair.
Wu Jue’s fingers descended on her wrist, thin as skin covering bones, taking a while to find the pulse.
A sign of a lamp running out of oil.
But this was not the natural aging of a human’s oil running out but an external force draining the internal oil, leaving only a flicker.
Only thanks to modern medical devices, in ancient times, even with various precious medicines to sustain life, she would not have made it this far.
The critical issue is that He Qingwen’s body was already on the brink.
If Your Majesty hadn’t pushed the clues leading to Xiao Tao’s family a couple of days earlier, and if he hadn’t rushed over upon finding the clue, given He Qingwen’s condition, at most she’d last another ten days before the flickering light extinguished completely.
"How is it?" Afraid of the youth’s concerns, He Qingwen smiled reassuringly, "It’s okay, just speak your mind. I’m well aware of my own body; you see, I’ve even prepared my will. Just don’t let Xiao Tao know about donating my body to the hospital. In my will, I said her dad left it for her, just retrieved from the bank upon maturity."
Wu Jue rarely joked about himself, "I...am not that skilled."
He Qingwen accepted this with a smile, "You’re still young. Xiao Tao’s dad always said traditional Chinese medicine is the hardest to master in medicine and worth a lifetime of dedication. Don’t lose heart. When I first fell ill, several hospitals said there was no cure. But at least this one, although it can’t cure me, has some medicine that still works somewhat, letting me live ."
"Yes, one injection a day. I’ve taken today’s dose already, and only with it do I have some strength. Had you come in the afternoon, I might not have been awake to see you."
Having seen He Qingwen leave the hospital, Wu Jue found a noodles shop across the street, ordered a bowl of plain noodles, and sat in a corner, pulling out his phone as he waited for the food.
Lunch was halfway through when a video invitation popped up on the phone placed on the table.
Shen Yunqing put down his chopsticks, "It’s Wu Jue," and reached to connect the call.
Jiang Lingxi put down her chopsticks too and moved to the chair beside Shen Yunqing.
Shen Yunqing’s back stiffened slightly, silently placing the phone between the two of them.
Wu Jue, on the other end, saw two faces already very close to the screen.
He took a shallow breath, "I just met with Ms. He."
"Her condition is more severe than we anticipated. Given her pulse, she shouldn’t even be alive now. I suspect there’s something wrong with the medicine she’s receiving and that there may be issues with this hospital." He proceeded to explain his decision, "I plan to stay a couple more days to investigate this hospital."