Skin - Chapter 44

Chapter 44 – Understanding Lu Shichen

　　This was the second time in Meng Zhao’s life that he waited anxiously outside the operating room.

　　The last time was when he was 11 years old. He was still in school when the police suddenly appeared and took him to the hospital, saying that his mother had an accident.

　　Meng Zhao has been sensible since he was young. He sat outside the operating room and waited quietly without saying a word, with tears falling down his face.

　　The operation lasted eight hours. The doctor later said that the operation took so long because his mother, Meng Jing, had a very strong will to survive. There were several times when even the doctor thought everything was over, but her heartbeat miraculously resumed.

　　But the world is helpless. Meng Jing’s injuries were all fatal. Even if she tried desperately to survive, fate did not give her this chance.

　　”Your mother held on for eight hours for you,” Director Xu, who was just Meng Jing’s colleague at the time, said to Meng Zhao afterwards, “So, no matter what happens in the future, you have to hold on for a few more hours for her.”

　　Meng Zhao always remembered this sentence, and also remembered the scene of himself sitting outside the operating room from dawn to dusk, so no matter what situation he was in afterwards, he would grit his teeth and hold on.

　　‘But Lu Shichen…’ Meng Zhao’s mind reappeared the look in Lu Shichen’s eyes when he looked at him – so calm and without any ripples, as if he was waiting for death to come in the next second, as if death was a complete relief for him.

　　‘Why did he suddenly rush over at that moment? It was obvious that I should be the one lying in the operating room…’ Meng Zhao listened to the faint sounds of instruments coming from the operating room in agony.

　　It is hard to imagine if the doctor came out of the operating room and shook his head and said “sorry” to Meng Zhao, just like when he informed him of Meng Jing’s death. How would he accept the news?

　　”Officer Meng,” the nurse trotted over, “the operation requires a relative’s signature. Do you have the patient’s relative’s contact information?”

　　Meng Zhao raised his head from his hands, his voice so hoarse that he could hardly speak: “Yes.”

　　The whites of his eyes were almost covered with red bloodshot. When he looked up, the nurse was startled by his eyes. After a moment of hesitation, she said, “Because the situation is quite urgent, the hospital will perform surgery on the patient first, but we still hope that the patient’s family can come as soon as possible to sign the supplementary document.”

　　”Okay,” Meng Zhao’s voice was hoarse, “I’ll call his dad right now.”

　　”Also, we need to provide Mr. Lu’s identity information,” the nurse handed the clothes in her hand to Meng Zhao, “This is the coat he was wearing. Can you help me find it?”

　　”Yeah.” Meng Zhao pinched his eyebrows hard, forcing himself to calm down, then he stood up and took Lu Shichen’s coat.

　　The coat was soaked with blood. In the past, Lu Shichen always had a faint sandalwood scent on his body, but now that scent had been covered by the strong smell of blood.

　　He reached into his coat pocket and found no identification information, only a bunch of car keys.

　　”It’s not in his pocket. I’ll ask someone to look in his car,” Meng Zhao said to the nurse, holding the key in his hand.

　　”Okay,” the nurse nodded, “Also, do you know if the patient has any other medical history?”

　　”He would have intermittent headaches, the kind that would make him dizzy,” Meng Zhao recalled the headaches that Lu Shichen had in front of him, and his short fingernails dug into his palms. “Also, he was in a car accident when he was ten years old, and suffered from stress-induced amnesia. He still can’t remember anything before the age of ten.”

　　The nurse wrote down everything Meng Zhao said, and then looked at Meng Zhao’s arm. There was a long and deep wound on his arm caused by the glass, which had already formed a blood scab. She kindly reminded him, “Officer Meng, do you want to go downstairs to treat the wound on your arm first?”

　　”No. I’ll wait until the operation is over.” Meng Zhao said.

　　After the nurse left, Meng Zhao called Lu Chengze.

　　It was already early morning and Lu Chengze was probably asleep. The phone beeped for a long time before the other end picked up.

　　”Uncle Lu, Lu Shichen was in a car accident. He’s in the operating room… I’ll tell you the details when you come over. Please consent to the surgery first. It’s in the Central Hospital… Okay, I’ll wait for you at the door of the operating room on the third floor.”

　　After hanging up the phone, he called his colleagues who stayed behind to deal with the car accident and asked them to find out whether there was any identification information of Lu Shichen in the car.

　　Ten minutes later, a colleague rushed over and handed something to Meng Zhao: “Captain Meng, the car was hit too badly. It may not be repairable… I took out everything in the storage box. Please look for any identity information in it.”

　　Meng Zhao took the things and said “OK”.

　　”Also, the truck driver died on the spot,” the colleague added.

　　”Dead?” Meng Zhao frowned immediately.

　　”Yes, according to Captain Li of the traffic police, if the truck had hit the ambulance directly, the driver might not have been in trouble. But because a car suddenly cut in, the driver panicked and tried to change his route, which led to his death on the spot.”

　　”Did you find any clues on the driver?”

　　”It seems that the phone was found. Before the accident, the phone had made three calls to a number. Brother Bin has already investigated that number.”

　　”I understand. Let Ren Bin take charge of the scene first. I’ll go over as soon as the operation is over.” Meng Zhao said a little tiredly.

　　Because of the sudden accident and Lu Shichen’s serious injuries, he was now exhausted and had no way to concentrate on the case.

　　After his colleague left, Meng Zhao looked through the things and found no identification information. Then he took out a brown paper bag from inside. It looked like a file bag, but there was no writing on the cover. ‘Could it be in there?’ Meng Zhao opened the file bag and looked through it roughly. He found no identification information, so he took out the paper documents inside and looked through them again.

　　After finding Lu Shichen’s identity information, he was about to put the documents back, but he glanced at the contents inadvertently and was stunned.

　　The topmost document was a prescription for drugs from a Class 3 hospital in the city. The patient’s basic information read: “Lu Shichen, male, 29 years old, suffered from stress-induced amnesia, emotional cognitive disorders, and severe depression due to a car accident when he was ten years old…”

　　‘Emotional cognitive disorder?’ Meng Zhao stopped and stared at the words. Suddenly, several fragments about Lu Shichen emerged in his mind.

　　After Lu Shichen asked Meng Zhao about his mother’s death, he said calmly, “Because my mother also passed away and I can’t remember anything, I don’t feel sad when I mention this matter.”

　　Lu Shichen looked at the dying Zhao Yunhua and asked indifferently, “Did you put that dog hair there?”

　　Twelve years ago, across the street, Lu Shichen stared at the dog struggling with an indifferent look on his face.

　　And the way Lu Shichen stared at him was like he was observing an animal in a cage…

　　‘No wonder, no wonder…’

　　‘No wonder Lu Shichen is often as cold and indifferent as a delicate mannequin.’

　　After removing the veil called “emotional cognitive disorder”, Meng Zhao felt that he could see Lu Shichen more clearly.

　　‘If it was because of the car accident, could it be that Lu Shichen was also emotional and empathetic before he was ten years old?’

　　‘If, due to an accident, a person’s memories and emotions were all stripped away by fate, leaving only a body and extreme rationality, what would it feel like to live like this without being able to empathize with humans…?’

　　‘But if Lu Shichen had no emotions, then why did he suddenly rush between the two cars tonight?’

　　‘Why did he skip classes for a week twelve years ago to ask Zhou Mingsheng for help? Why did he leave a note for himself when he left high school?’

　　At this moment, the sound of footsteps interrupted Meng Zhao’s thoughts. He looked up and saw Lu Shichen’s father, Lu Chengze, arriving.

　　”Xiao Meng, how is Shi Chen?” Lu Chengze walked closer and asked him.

　　”They are still operating. The situation…” Meng Zhao paused, and told Lu Chengze the truth, “Uncle Lu, the situation is not good. The operation requires a signature. Please sign first and I will tell you in detail.”

　　”Okay.” Lu Chengze nodded and walked quickly towards the nurse’s station.

　　Meng Zhao put away Lu Shichen’s medical record and stared at the file bag for a long while.

　　The things Lu Shichen gave him were too many and too heavy. He didn’t know how to pay off the Meng Xiangyu case and the notebook twelve years ago, and now he owed Lu Shichen a life.

　　‘It’s too heavy…’ Meng Zhao looked up at the indicator light above the operating room.

　　‘Lu Shichen, please hold on for me and let me think about how to pay off all this.’

　　After Lu Chengze signed, he came over and asked Meng Zhao: “Xiao Meng, what’s going on?”

　　Meng Zhao roughly told Lu Chengze the whole process from leaving the sanatorium to the car accident, and then said, “Uncle Lu, I’m sorry, I should have been the one lying in the operating room receiving emergency treatment instead.”

　　Lu Chengze frowned: “Why would he go with you to rescue the victims?”

　　”This is a long story. We originally went out to eat, and while we were talking about the case, we came up with a clue…” Meng Zhao hadn’t fully recovered from his emotions yet, and his thoughts were a little confused. When Lu Chengze asked him about it, his explanation was a little hasty.

　　Lu Chengze was silent for a moment, then asked, “Was this car accident an accident or was it intentional?”

　　”It can’t be a simple accident.” Meng Zhao shook his head.

　　”It’s too dangerous, Xiao Meng. You let an amateur like Shi Chen participate in such a dangerous operation…” Lu Chengze shook his head, unable to hide the blame in his words. “He was originally listed as a suspect in this case, which means he was probably targeted from the beginning. The more he participates in this case and the deeper he is involved, the more likely he is to be in danger.”

　　”You’re right,” Meng Zhao blamed himself after hearing this and apologized again, “I’m sorry, Uncle Lu.”

　　Lu Chengze waved his hand: “Forget it, you can’t be blamed for this. No matter what, it was his own choice. He should have thought about the consequences the moment he made the choice. Don’t blame yourself too much.”

　　In the corridor, medical workers were walking hurriedly. Meng Zhao sat on a bench, anxiously waiting for the operation to end. Lu Chengze stood in front of the window, looking at the night outside with a gloomy expression.

　　Half an hour later, the door of the emergency room opened and the doctor walked out.

　　Meng Zhao and Lu Chengze immediately stepped forward to inquire about the operation.

　　The doctor took off his mask and said, “We have temporarily rescued him from the most critical situation, thanks to the fact that he was sent here as soon as the accident happened. However, the patient suffered a severe head injury. Although the condition has been temporarily stabilized through surgery, whether he can wake up depends on whether he can survive tonight. This depends on the patient’s own will to survive.”

　　‘It’s the will to survive again…’ Meng Zhao clenched his fingers.

　　He couldn’t convince himself to be optimistic. If the person lying on the hospital bed at this moment was him, he would definitely be able to make it through. But the one who had to go through the gates of hell was Lu Shichen, whose will to survive was extremely weak…

　　The door of the operating room opened, and Lu Shichen, who was lying on the hospital bed, was pushed out of the operating room by nurses.

　　Lu Chengze stayed outside and continued to ask the doctor about postoperative matters.

　　Meng Zhao followed and walked into the intensive care unit, looking at Lu Shichen lying on the bed.

　　Lu Shichen had an oxygen mask on his face, his complexion was pale, his lips were bloodless, and there was almost no sign of life.

　　Because the left side of his body was directly hit, Lu Shichen’s arm suffered a comminuted fracture, but fortunately his leg was unharmed.

　　Meng Zhao had occasionally felt in the past that Lu Shichen was like a piece of porcelain that appeared indestructible on the surface but was actually extremely fragile. Now he really had become a human-shaped piece of porcelain that would break at the slightest touch.

　　He then thought, for Lu Shichen who was unable to empathize with anyone, would lying there unconsciously like this be no different from living among the crowd like an out-of-place person, or even be easier?

　　At this moment, Meng Zhao’s cell phone vibrated.

　　In the past, he always answered the phone as soon as possible, but this time, the phone rang for a long time before he picked up.

　　It was so late, it must be about a case. Meng Zhao knew that after answering the call, he might be called to the Municipal Bureau again.

　　He hoped to stay here until Lu Shichen opened his eyes and woke up, and then deal with other things. But now the case had reached the most critical moment, and he didn’t have that much time to stay here.

　　Meng Zhao looked at Lu Shichen lying on the hospital bed. He gave himself some time for his cell phone to ring, and then he just looked at Lu Shichen in silence.

　　Then, just before the ringing sounded, he stood up, walked to the window and answered the call.

　　The call was from Ren Bin.

　　”Captain Meng, the material identification department tested the liquid in the drip bottle overnight. The results just came out. The preliminary conclusion is that it is a mixture of glucose and with amounts of heavy metals. Although the dose is not fatal, long-term injection will cause the human body to have limb and brain retardation. I just asked about the conditions of the people rescued from the basement. The hospital said that most of them are still in a coma. Whether they can wake up or not, the doctor said we can only observe for a few more days.”

　　”How is the interrogation going for the staff at the sanatorium?”

　　”They said they didn’t know about the existence of the underground passage, but judging by their behavior, it doesn’t seem like they were lying.”

　　”Has Wu Weihan been interrogated?”

　　”After the interrogation, he said he knew nothing about it and did not admit that he did it.”

　　”Didn’t they say they found the phone in the driver’s hand? How’s the tracking of the number going?”

　　”Just like before, it’s a multi-layered encrypted network number.”

　　”The person rescued from the basement is unconscious, the people in the sanatorium said they had no knowledge of the incident, the driver who caused the accident is dead, and we could not find the person who spoke to him before he died,” Meng Zhao felt an inexplicable anger rushing to his throat, he tried his best to suppress it, raised his hand tiredly and rubbed his brow, “Is this the situation now?”

　　Hearing that Meng Zhao was suppressing his anger, Ren Bin said, “Don’t worry, there are more clues. After daybreak…”

　　”How can I not be anxious?!” Meng Zhao had been trying his best to suppress his anger, but now he could no longer bear it and burst out, “My friend is still in the hospital and his life is uncertain. You told me that all the clues have been cut off again. After dawn? The summons time is 24 hours. If Wu Weihan is really the murderer behind the scenes, and we can’t find evidence of his crime within 24 hours, are we going to let him go back and continue to do evil?”

　　On the other end of the phone, Ren Bin was silent for a few seconds, then said, “The investigation is still underway and colleagues in the bureau are working overtime all night to interrogate the suspect. Who wouldn’t want to catch the murderer right away?”

　　Meng Zhao realized that he had lost control. He stood in front of the window, took another deep breath into the night, and forced himself to return to the track of calmness and rationality: “Sorry, I know everything. I will return to the bureau now.”

　　After hanging up the phone, Meng Zhao sighed deeply. When he turned around, Lu Chengze was looking at him from behind.

　　”Uncle Lu.” Meng Zhao calmed down and said, “I have to go back first. The mastermind behind this car accident must be caught as soon as possible. I can’t stay with Lu Shichen all the time… When he wakes up, please notify me as soon as possible.”

　　”Okay, you did the right thing,” Lu Chengze looked at him and said, “Investigating the case is important, go quickly.”

　　Although he was worried about Lu Shichen’s condition, Meng Zhao had to investigate the car accident thoroughly now. The longer he delayed, the more likely the clues would be destroyed.

　　The car accident tonight could not be an accident. The person who planned this car accident had only one purpose, which was to kill and silence the people hidden in the basement so that there would be no evidence. The person who secretly hid these people in the basement and planned this car accident tonight must be the same person.

　　Meng Zhao clenched his fists. He had to get to the bottom of this sinful man. No matter how powerful the forces behind him were, he would use evidence to crush him so that he could not turn over.

　　After leaving the ward and reaching the corner of the stairs, Meng Zhao looked back at the intensive care unit.

　　‘Lu Shichen,’ he said in his heart, ‘if you survive, you still have a long time to live, and life is not as boring as you think. As long as you survive, I will do my best to help you get back all the lost memories and emotions.’