Le roi des pilleurs de tombes - Chapitre 31
"The X-ray showed no blood clots and the intracranial pressure was normal."
"Remember to notify the nursing station when you wake up. The police will be coming later to take statements and find out what happened. Tsk tsk, running around with a parachute on your back, really..."
"Yes, senior."
Old Qunzhi quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
He felt a slight tremor, felt a shadow linger on his face for two seconds, felt the shadow leave, and felt footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and then closed again.
Old Qunzhi opened his eyes again with all his might.
What time is it? How long have you been lying here? Is it evening yet?
No, I've wasted too much time. There's no time left... I need to find a map quickly, map, map...
Using his fingernails to peel off the tape stuck to his left arm, Lao Qunzhi tried to sit up and remove the needles, but instead slumped to the ground. Had he damaged a nerve? Or had he been lying down for too long and his muscles had gone numb? Lao Qunzhi's left leg already had an old injury, and now his reaction was even slower. He pounded his leg muscles hard, cursing himself for his momentary carelessness.
After finally managing to stand up, Lao Qunzhi moved slightly, his head throbbing with pain.
Reaching the door, all that could be heard outside was the slapping sound of slippers. Old Qunzhi simply pushed the door open and escaped the ward, which no one really paid any attention to. As he walked quickly, he wondered if he should retrieve his clothes first.
No, I absolutely have to change out of my hospital gown; otherwise, it's too conspicuous to walk around in it. The question is, how do I get one? Should I just rush to the nursing station and ask? Or should I just barge into another ward and steal one?
"If we miss this opportunity, we'll have to wait nine more years... nine more years..."
The thought of the cost of failure, and the fact that the next attempt would take nine years, made Lao Qunzhi's heart pound in his throat. He deliberately searched for a clock in the public space, but couldn't find one.
What time is it?
Just as they were getting anxious, they suddenly heard from afar: "The patient is missing!" "Go find him quickly!" "We haven't taken a statement yet, we must find him!" A commotion ensued.
Old Qunzhi, who had "killed someone in the future," was extremely sensitive about his wanted status. Although he was innocent at this time, he was also an unidentified person. If he were taken away by the police, he would definitely be subjected to intensive questioning, which would delay the increasingly urgent time...
Not daring to look back to check his status, nor daring to think too much about getting his clothes back, Lao Qunzhi quickly turned right and walked down the stairs next to the safety door, rushing straight to the first floor as fast as he could.
Upon reaching the first floor, Lao Qunzhi, intending to leave the hospital in one go, noticed two policemen talking at the entrance, glancing into the lobby from time to time. One of the officers picked up a walkie-talkie, his eyes conveying a sense of vigilance.
Can't we just go out directly?
Where is the back door of the hospital? There are usually other exits in the emergency room, right?
It's so noisy and chaotic. Several workers are walking around, indicating that the first floor of the hospital is under renovation. There's a sign in front of the original registration counter, instructing patients to temporarily move their registration to the second floor.
Old Qunzhi, feeling guilty, walked through the crowd in the renovation hall. He felt that everyone was secretly watching him—patients, workers. Every step he took was under the pressure of suspicious gazes, and he lowered his head lower and lower.
Whether it was due to overly tense imagination or a strong intuition developed from facing countless crises, Lao Qunzhi seemed to sense that the police at the door had noticed him.
We can no longer stay on the first floor.
Old Qunzhi, who was burning up with heat, was sweating profusely. He saw an elevator door open in the distance and quickly walked over.
The crowd in front of them entered the elevator one after another, and the remaining space inside the elevator became less and less.
Old Qunzhi quickened his pace, narrowly missing the man who was originally walking in front of him by a hair's breadth, and entered the elevator.
"Cough! Cough cough cough... cough cough..."
The middle-aged man walking behind Lao Qunzhi coughed with his head down as he followed him into the elevator.
Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep.
The elevator is overloaded.
The middle-aged man smiled apologetically and immediately stepped out of the elevator to wait for the next one.
The elevator doors closed.
Old Qunzhi, who managed to escape the surveillance on the first floor by catching the elevator in time, should be able to breathe a sigh of relief for a while, but when he made eye contact with the coughing man, he had an indescribable feeling.
Where have I seen that middle-aged man who missed the elevator before?
Impossible, in this day and age?
Deng.
On the second floor, the elevator doors opened, and everyone except the old Qunzhi went out to register.
Two people were standing at the elevator entrance: a doctor in a white coat and a middle-aged woman with tears streaming down her face.
With his thoughts still lingering on the face of the coughing man, Old Qunzhi, his brows furrowed, took a step back to let the two people standing at the elevator door in.
The doctor pressed nine.
The elevator goes straight up from the second floor.
"Doctor, thank you, thank you so much..." The middle-aged woman cried and sniffled, but her tears were mixed with laughter. "These past three days I haven't been able to eat or sleep well. My whole mind has been on my two children. The thought that I only have a month left to spend with them makes my heart ache so much... Thank you, doctor, thank you. I've really gained so much from this experience..."
Elevator, third floor.
The door opened.
Two more people came in and pressed the button for the seventh floor.
Old Qunzhi looked at the elevator doors opening and closing and suddenly took a deep breath.
The doctor patted the middle-aged woman on the shoulder and said gently, "Don't thank me, you should thank yourself for everything. If you encounter any difficulties or setbacks in the future, just think of the suffering you've endured these past three days, and you'll realize that there is nothing in this world that cannot be overcome."
Elevator, fourth floor.
Old Qunzhi paid no attention to the conversation in the elevator.
For some reason, he couldn't erase the face of that coughing man from his mind.
Like a thorn, a tiny bamboo thorn that accidentally gets stuck under your fingernail, it doesn't hurt terribly, but it's unbearable even for a second.
It's strange. He's just an ordinary middle-aged man, so why am I so concerned?
As the coughing man was considering whether he should walk upstairs, another elevator arrived immediately.
The elevator went up to the second floor.
The elevator doors opened.
The man covered his mouth as he stepped out of the elevator, barely suppressing the urge to cough.
People who had just come out of the previous elevator lined up in front of the registration counter, and men joined the queue.
Soon it was his turn.
Elevator, fifth floor.
"Doctor, thank you so much for your plan."
The middle-aged woman couldn't stop laughing through her tears.
"May every day from now on be full of energy! Keep it up!"
The doctor in the white coat gave a firm and approving tone.
"Hello, I'd like to register for the ENT department." The man placed his ID card on the counter.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Li Youchen?" The counter clerk asked in a standardized manner, confirming the information.
Elevator, sixth floor.
Even if he looks familiar, even if I saw this man when I was eight years old, so what?
An invisible current shot straight up from the end of his spine, making Lao Qunzhi's scalp tingle.
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
So what? So what? So what? So what? So what? So what?
"Yes," the man replied.
"Do you have a designated doctor?" The counter clerk didn't even look up, just kept looking at the computer.
"Hmm... they should all be about the same, right?" The man studied the outpatient schedule on the counter and said casually, "I'll see Dr. Lü Xu."
Elevator, seventh floor.
The door opened, and the two people who had come in from the third floor went out.
The door closed, and the elevator continued upwards.
As the inexplicable anger surged, an image shot out at the speed of light from the deepest part of the old collective wisdom's memory.
It was a black and white photograph.
A black and white photograph placed next to a densely packed text description.
A few words were boldly written next to the photo. Shocking.
"Dr. Lu's clinic is currently full. You could consider Dr. Hung Hsu-Yu or Dr. Chang Hsin-Yuan."
"Which one can see you faster? Just choose that one."
"Then I'll help you register with Dr. Hung Hsu-Yu. I'll charge you 150 yuan for the registration fee."
"Thanks."
The man paid the bill and studied the clinic numbers and floor layout.
While waiting for his change, he touched his forehead.
"Phew, thankfully I don't have a fever."
Elevator, eighth floor.
"I have to stop him, while he's still in the hospital, I have to..."
Old Qunzhi's whole body trembled violently.
Deng.
They arrived at the ninth floor, the elevator doors opened, and the doctor and the woman stepped out.
Before the elevator doors closed automatically, Lao Qunzhi pressed the "1F" button as fast as he could, and was shocked to find that his fingers were in a strange semi-transparent state.