A Terrifying Night at the Clinic

Just as Chen Miemie was gloating over her rank advancement.

East District Clinic.

In the quiet inpatient ward, the nurse had just left after completing her rounds.

Ash opened her eyes, dropping her feigned sleep, and quietly slipped out of bed.

Her reason for hospitalization was severe injuries to both legs, rendering her unable to walk.

In reality, after a few days of treatment, she could already walk normally, though running or fighting would still be a stretch.

She stepped out of the ward and made her way toward the office of her attending physician, Dr. Hua.

According to what she heard from the nurses today, Dr. Hua had the night off and his office would be empty. She wanted to sneak in and look for clues.

Dr. Hua had worked at the East District Clinic for over 15 years. Whether it was conventional medicine or medical-related [Mystery], his skills were top-notch.

Qualified to run for the clinic director position, his rank was far beyond what a simple chief physician title could encompass, and he had his own private office.

The office door was locked.

Ash had already stolen the spare key from the nurses' station.

Open the door, enter, close the door.

Ash's movements were extremely cautious.

Dr. Hua was a Mystic, and Mystics always had bizarre methods up their sleeves. One could never be too careful.

The moon above cast a blood-red light, allowing Ash to see most of the room clearly.

Ash began to rummage through the cabinets and drawers, unwilling to miss a single spot.

Ash held no illusions that Dr. Hua would fail to notice someone had been here tomorrow.

For her, this was likely her one and only chance to get in.

The desk, the filing cabinets, the trash can, inside the cushions, under the carpet...

She searched everywhere, except for one locked drawer.

Ash pulled out her weapon and forcefully broke the drawer open.

Inside were some confidential private medical records.

Ash quickly flipped through them, stopping when she reached a particular file.

"Zhen Liulang's Medical Record"

Zhen Liulang was the patient who had previously given Ash the assassination mission at Room 1803 in the South District Building.

Just as Ash was about to open the file to its inner pages.

The voice of the on-duty nurse drifted from far down the hall outside the door.

"Dr. Hua, why are you back?"

"A patient had a slight emergency, so I rushed over to take a look."

Ash's hair stood on end. She quickly pushed the drawer shut while glancing around for a place to hide.

Dr. Hua's office was not large. Aside from the desk and filing cabinets, there was only a vase.

The filing cabinets and the vase didn't offer enough space to hide a person.

Left with no other choice, Ash slid underneath the desk.

The man's footsteps gradually approached.

Three meters, two meters, one meter.

A key was inserted into the lock.

The door opened.

Dr. Hua stepped into the office and walked toward the desk.

Ash could already see the shoes on Dr. Hua's feet.

Two more steps, and once he rounded the desk, even if he didn't see Ash hiding underneath, he would definitely notice the forced drawer.

Ash tightened her grip on her dagger.

One step left.

Ash's muscles tensed, her heart racing wildly. She gathered strength in her toes, ready to spring out and strike first.

"Dr. Hua," a new female voice sounded from the doorway.

Dr. Hua stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Head Nurse Loop, is there something you need?"

"That cooperation you mentioned last time, do you have time to chat about it now?"

"Of course."

"Let's go to my office."

"Alright." Dr. Hua followed Loop out of the office, pulling the door shut behind him.

Only after the sound of the door closing did their footsteps fade away.

Ash finally released her held breath, panting heavily a few times.

She loosened her grip on the dagger; her palms were completely slick with sweat.

Wiping the sweat off on her clothes, Ash hurriedly continued to examine Zhen Liulang's medical record:

Zhen Liulang, male, [Mystery] 0.8, 37 years old, no family, no steady job, homeless, deceased from illness.

First visited our East District Clinic three years ago and was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Unable to afford treatment fees himself, he had been receiving conservative treatment.

A month ago, he received a medical assistance quota and started using high-grade medication. His condition gradually stabilized, and he was originally scheduled for surgery at the end of this month.

Last week, his medical assistance was terminated for unknown reasons. After stopping the medication, his symptoms worsened and relapsed. Ultimately, failing to undergo surgery, he succumbed to his illness.

"A month ago, a homeless man receives medical assistance, and a week ago it stops for unknown reasons?" Ash quickly spotted the anomaly.

Medical assistance was a special kind of help for patients that came with numerous privileges: fully waived medical fees, assignment of the best doctors, stays in the best wards, and so on.

However, this sort of medical assistance was not actually meant to help ordinary people at the bottom who couldn't afford medical care; it was generally used to save individuals with special talents.

A homeless man who couldn't afford treatment for three years suddenly receives medical assistance out of nowhere, then hires a killer for an assassination, and finally, his medical assistance is cut off and he dies a natural death?

If this medical record wasn't forged, then the homeless man's actions were clearly manipulated from beginning to end.

There was no more information. Ash put the items back in their original places, quickly left, and returned to her hospital bed. After sending the relevant information to Chen Miemie, she "fell asleep" once more.

Not long after Ash left.

Dr. Hua returned.

He quickly discovered the broken drawer.

After inspecting the items and documents inside, nothing was missing.

Dr. Hua calmly went to the nurses' station without showing any emotion.

"Xiao Zhao, is the spare key to my office still here?"

Nurse Xiao Zhao checked the storage spot. "Ah! It's gone. I clearly saw it here at dusk!"

"After dusk, were there any relatives visiting patients?"

"Not today."

"Did you see patients from any rooms come out?"

"Hmm, let me think. Mr. Sun went out to eat and just came back; Granny Li came out to fill a thermos with hot water. Just those two."

"Alright. Let's do another round of ward inspections early. I'll walk with you."

"Okay."

Nurse Xiao Zhao and Dr. Hua entered one ward after another.

When they arrived at Ash's room.

Nurse Xiao Zhao busied herself with the relevant routine checks.

Dr. Hua remained silent the entire time.

After about three minutes, the two of them left.

The ward door was closed.

Ash, who had remained perfectly still under the covers the entire time, finally opened her eyes again.

Outside the door, Dr. Hua patted Nurse Xiao Zhao on the shoulder and made a gesture, indicating that she should continue checking the remaining rooms by herself.

Following that, he left the clinic directly.

Inside Ash's ward.

Under the moonlight, a small piece of tea leaf was stuck to the edge of her shoe.

It was the tea that Dr. Hua drank year-round.