After a while, she stood and looked toward Dr. Blanc. “I’d like to have a word with you.”“How’s the kid?” Dr. Blanc questioned, furrowing his brow."She should be stable for now," she said euphemistically, bending down to pinch Debbie's cheeks with one hand and stuffing something into her mouth with the other.She did it so swiftly that others could not do anything but shout, “What did you feed her?!”“Dr. Blanc, let’s talk alone,” Lily said indifferently while turning to face him.Before Dr. Blanc could reply, Dashiell chuckled coldly. "What can't you say here that you must speak with Dr. Blanc alone? We’re all colleagues, and as Dr. Blanc said, we’re all on the battlefront together. How are there secrets we are not privy to?"Dr. Blanc, you said you wouldn't let her off the hook easily, and I believe there’s no secrets between the two of you. So, I’m wondering, Dr. Russell, what is it that you could only tell Dr. Blanc and not us?” Dashiell looked around, and someone piped u
Lily and Dashiell each seemed to have a point, and the others did not know for a moment which side to take or whom to trust.“Dr. Russell, according to you, what should we do?” Having remained quiet, Edmund spoke. Instead of making accusations or taking sides, he simply asked her what they should do next.“That’s right. It’s not the time to argue about who is right. What matters is saving her life.” Someone else nodded and said, “Dr. Russell, what did you feed her? How could she take any drugs without a prescription?”“It’s to protect her heart,” Lily answered. “Since I’ve been put in charge of the child, I’ll perform my duty. You can hold me accountable for what I’ve said.” Edmund frowned. “It doesn't matter if you would fulfill your obligation or if we could hold you accountable. We’re talking about someone’s life here, and we mustn’t take it lightly!”“I know!” Looking at Edmund, she grimly uttered the two words.Although she did not want to save the world, she knew how impo
“Go and prepare since you might have to stay here overnight. It could be exhausting with only the two of you taking shifts," Dr. Blanc said to the two nurses who remained behind, "Do come back when you're ready. I still have to examine the patient.”“Okay, Doctor.” The nurses replied and left.Dr. Blanc took the stethoscope and checked Debbie’s heartbeat, then gave her a rough examination. When he withdrew his hand, he thought about something and gave Lily a look. He took the child's wrist and turned it over, checking her palm.The palm was soft, but he could see something abnormally yellow in the middle. If one were not careful, they might mistake it for a callous caused by labor.However, she was still a child and had not done such work before, let alone over a long period of time. Not only that, she had been in the ward recently.Stroking his finger over it, Dr. Blanc realized it was not a callous but a darker yellow that had shown through the skin. It was something unnatural a
“I’ll see to it,” Dr. Blanc said, “How do you know she got poisoned?”Having asked that, he felt it was redundant as a herbal medicine practitioner could determine many hidden problems by taking one’s wrist pulse.“Then who do you think could’ve poisoned her?” He asked again.Lily shook her head. “I’m unsure and don’t want to jump to conclusions. However, it’s a serious problem. Whoever the person is, what is their goal? What motives do they have? It’s too dangerous having someone like that around here.”“You’re right.” Dr. Blanc nodded and turned to Edmund. “What do you think?”“I think Dr. Russell is correct. Whoever the person is, we must catch them! I never expected anyone like that to be hiding among us. It’s truly horrible.”Dr. Blanc was thoughtful. “Then about the poisoning…”“Debbie will be fine. I fed her the antidote, which should be able to counteract the poison very soon,” Lily explained.Taken aback, Edmund asked, “That was for the poison? Not to protect her heart
Austin groggily opened his eyes, but his eyelids felt so heavy that he gradually closed them again.He did not know how much time had passed, and it felt like a year later when he reopened his eyes. He saw a wooden roof instead of the unnerving white ceiling. He then looked around him and saw a closet, desk, chair, the bed he was lying on, and the blanket…Everything was not the cold and hard stuff he had before. Almost subconsciously, he lifted his hand and slapped himself.‘Ouch, that hurts!’ However, he was glad he felt pain. ‘This isn’t a dream!’In other words, he finally escaped and no longer needed to suffer in that hellhole. He eagerly tried to get off the bed, but the moment he removed the blanket and his feet touched the floor, he went limp and almost dropped to his knees if he had not propped himself up.“What are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?” The voice was familiar and yet so strange. Austin had not heard it for a long time, and hearing it again felt lik
“Uncle…” The moment Austin opened his mouth, Dominic handed over the herbal medicine. “Drink it!”Dominic sounded rude, but the medicine was the most delicious thing on earth to Austin now. Without asking what it was, he gulped it down in one shot. He did not even care that it was hot and smacked his lips after finishing it. “It’s so sweet!”Dominic stared at his nephew. “I doubled the amount of bitter melon! Very sweet? I think you must be suffering from a concussion!”Despite being scolded, Austin did not mind and laughed happily. “Thank you for saving me, Uncle Dom.”“I told you I’m not that free, got it? Your father will come to pick you up later. Don’t dilly-dally and try to stick around. You’re no more than a pain in my a*s!” After a pause, he added, “Oh, yes, I don’t want the bed and blanket anymore since you’ve used them. Tell your father to buy new ones for me!”“Sure, I’ll buy the best ones for you, Uncle Dom!” Austin said laughingly. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in hi
“Take off your shirt!” Dominic said.Austin did so without asking why. Dominic examined him from top to bottom, then took two steps back to size him up. “Take off your pants, too!”Austin was stunned. “Uncle Dom?”“Stop dawdling! You want me to do it for you?” Dominic said it threateningly.Austin was resigned, could only do as he was told. Although he still wore his underwear, wearing so little in front of the old man was embarrassing.Crouching down, Dominic looked at his calves, then flicked his finger at the back of his knee. He slowly got up, stepped back, and rubbed his beard as he narrowed his eyes. He seemed to be either looking at Austin or thinking about something.“Grandpa…” A voice sounded.Austin knew his granduncle was trying to figure out what was wrong with him, but standing there without a shirt or pants was embarrassing.‘I wonder if he’s done. He should at least let me put on my clothes, right?’“Grandpa…” The soft voice sounded again. Since it was soft and
“It’s not fun over here. Grandpa will take you to have fun, okay?” Carrying Galen, Dominic was about to leave.Still standing there in embarrassment, Austin was taken aback. “Uncle Dom, what about the virus?”“What virus? I said you have no virus!” Dominic impatiently left without looking back.Austin stood for a long time in a daze, then went into the ensuite bathroom. Standing before the large mirror, he looked at his nearly naked self.He was wearing nothing except a pair of short pants. As he only took off his shirt just now, it was the first time he could take a good look at his body.It had been days since he had done so. He would have been shocked to see how much weight he had lost if he had not been mentally prepared. His cheeks were deeply sunken, and one could tell from the dark circles under his bloodshot eyes that he had not slept well for days. His body, however, did not look like his at all!It was not skinny. On the contrary, his muscles were firm and clearly out