91 Dementia

In the quiet of the hospital office late at night, the only sounds were the clatter of keyboards and the low-frequency hum of the instruments.

With sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes, Dr. Li clicked the mouse and pressed save, finally stopping his typing: "Done! Done! Shut down!"

He stretched and slumped back in his chair, glancing at the time in the lower right corner before shutting down the computer—it was already 2 a.m.

The office door was pushed open with a "bang," and Dr. Qiao, still sleepy-eyed, looked like she had just woken up.

He lazily yawned and sat down at his workstation: "I'm here, you should go and rest."

"Then I'll go."

Dr. Li touched her pitiful hairline, which had receded another centimeter, and looked quite resentful.

I don't want to go to this lousy class even once!

He grabbed his phone and water bottle without hesitation and dragged his tired body out of the office.

Dr. Qiao opened her thermos, tilted her head back and gulped down a mouthful of iced soda water, and immediately felt much more refreshed.

He glanced at the empty office, took out his phone from his pocket, and skillfully opened the mobile banking app.

Staring at the long, dizzying string of zeros on the account, Dr. Joe was once again lost in memories…

...

Two weeks ago, a large sum of money was suddenly and inexplicably transferred to Dr. Qiao's account by a stranger.

Subsequently, a mysterious person secretly contacted him and invited him to a very famous local food street.

That night, at two in the morning, the brightly lit snack street was bustling with people, full of tourists who had come to enjoy the late-night snacks, and the atmosphere was joyful and peaceful.

No one knew that a sinister deal was about to take place here.

Following the address given by the mysterious man, Dr. Qiao arrived at table number 14 at the open-air stall outside Brother Biao's food stall on the snack street, looking quite wary.

A burly man was sitting at table number 14.

The man truly lived up to his name as a mysterious figure; he was indeed very mysterious, dressed entirely in black from head to toe, even his mask was black.

Some steaming hot skewers were already on the table, sizzling with oil and emitting a wonderful aroma.

However, Dr. Qiao was restless and didn't even dare to touch the tea that the waitress had just poured for him.

After all, he didn't come here to eat.

Looking at the strange man in front of her who clearly wasn't a good person, Dr. Qiao asked nervously, "Who are you?"

The mysterious man adjusted his sunglasses, spoke coldly, his voice low and hoarse: "Who I am is not important."

"..."

After waiting for thirty seconds, the mysterious man still didn't say anything more, so Dr. Qiao had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask, "Did you call me here for something?"

The mysterious man adjusted his sunglasses again: "Why did I call you here if there's nothing wrong?"

"..."

After another thirty seconds, the mysterious man still didn't say anything more. Dr. Qiao suspected that this person might be a cyborg, or one with a defective brain component, which was why he could only say one sentence at a time.

Despite the suspicious nature of the contact person, and thinking of the huge sum of money in the account, Dr. Qiao decided to keep smiling: "So what brings you here?"

The mysterious man turned his head and looked around. He saw that the diners at the neighboring tables were all eating and chatting, and no one was paying attention to the commotion in their little corner. He still beckoned to Dr. Qiao warily.

Dr. Qiao understood; this meant he needed to come closer to speak.

He cautiously peeked over, his hands secretly gripping the edge of the table, ready to flip it over and run away at any moment.

The mysterious figure whispered in my ear: "#@￥*%￥##%@#&#"

"No, no!"

Dr. Qiao leaned back abruptly and waved his hands repeatedly in refusal.

He's a law-abiding citizen. The most outrageous thing he's ever done since childhood was stealing his dad's secret stash of money to buy a phone to play games in junior high. He would never dare to do something so harmful.

The mysterious person was prepared.

He calmly pulled out the black folder that he had been keeping under his bottom and handed it to Dr. Joe.

Dr. Qiao hesitated before opening the simple folder that still carried the mysterious body's warmth.

Inside the folder were neither checks nor bank drafts, but two documents that looked like museum pieces. The paper was of high quality, with exquisite engravings and patterns, clearly very valuable.

“These are bearer bonds from ‘Global Capital’,” the mysterious man explained calmly. “They have a face value of fifty million, two of them, for a total of one hundred million.”

Dr. Qiao's eyes widened, and her hands holding the documents trembled.

He's never had this much money in his 33 years of life! Not to mention him, his whole family has never seen it before!

In just three minutes, Dr. Qiao had already recalled the short and ordinary first half of his life...

In the end, after his conscience uttered a final, faint protest in his mind, he was completely swayed by the evil of money.

After returning home, Dr. Qiao tossed and turned in his small rented room.

At five o'clock in the morning, he finally couldn't resist getting out of bed, turning on his computer, and carefully reviewing the Criminal Law.

After a day of rest and careful study of the Criminal Law, Dr. Qiao let out a long sigh.

Money is good, but you need to be alive to enjoy it. What if you get caught someday...?

He thought of his father, who was still farming in their hometown, and his mother, who was doing odd jobs in the county town, and sighed again.

"We still need to find someone else."

...

After observing secretly for half a month, Dr. Qiao set his sights on Nurse Li in his team.

That day, he and Nurse Li went to the cafeteria for lunch.

Seeing the weariness on Nurse Li's face and the anxiety in her eyes, Dr. Qiao asked with concern, "Has the family matter not been resolved yet?"

Nurse Li wiped her face and said helplessly, "No."

Nurse Li's husband jumped into the sea after his business failed a year ago, leaving her with a huge debt.

So Nurse Li had a very difficult year, and many of her black hairs turned white.

"I wish I could win the lottery someday, maybe three million, life would be so much better."

A hint of anticipation for a better future shone in Nurse Li's eyes.

"I do have a side job here, and the pay is this much." Seeing that the time was right, Dr. Qiao held up two fingers, then added another, "Three million. After it's done, there will be seven million more."

Nurse Li suddenly turned her head—

Three million!

This money is enough to fill the biggest hole!

She asked hesitantly, "What do you need me to do?"

Dr. Qiao took a small, colorless bottle labeled "Special Electrolyte Replenishment Solution" out of the pocket of his white coat and whispered a few words.

Nurse Li's face turned deathly pale instantly. She shook her head frantically, saying, "No... Dr. Qiao, this is illegal! People will die!"

“Who said he had to die? Just let him… sleep peacefully forever. I’ll give you the dosage and the method.” Dr. Joe said earnestly, “Imagine your creditors, think of your children. This money is enough to pay off everything and let you and your children start a new life.”

After hesitating for a night, Head Nurse Li sighed and finally accepted the colorless bottle labeled "Special Electrolyte Replenishment Solution".

...

However, Nurse Li was a timid person. She was even afraid to kill fish when cooking, let alone kill a living person with her own hands.

For several days in a row, she was on tenterhooks.

Inside the pocket, the label that read "Special Electrolyte Replenishment Solution" was already smudged by the sweat from my palms, the lettering blurred into a large blob.

Nurse Li held the colorless vial in her pocket, feeling it was hotter than a branding iron.

She glanced cautiously at the red-glowing camera above her head, but ultimately gave up.

The dispensing room was bustling with people and fully monitored, so she really didn't dare to operate the dispensing equipment herself in front of everyone.

But the money has already been received, there's no reason to return it...

She thought of Xiao Liu, the always smiling intern in the team.

Xiao Liu is a sunny and cheerful young man, but lately he has been feeling gloomy and downcast.

She overheard Xiao Liu crying on the phone in the stairwell, saying that he had borrowed money from all the online lending platforms in order to resell a "Void Wings" item in some game, but the developer issued an update announcement and "Void Wings" became a cheap commodity overnight.

Xiao Liu lost everything; the million-yuan debt completely crushed him. Yesterday, I even heard that he almost jumped off the roof...

With that thought in mind, Nurse Li gritted her teeth and made up her mind.

...

On a quiet night shift, at 2 a.m., Nurse Li found Xiao Liu.

"Xiao Liu, do your senior sister a favor."

Nurse Li quietly called Xiao Liu to an empty fire escape, took out a 100-gram small yellow croaker from her left pocket, and stuffed it into Xiao Liu's hand.

Xiao Liu took it blankly and asked in confusion, "Senior sister, what's this?"

Nurse Li smiled and said, "One 100-gram piece is worth 100,000 yuan."

Nurse Li then took out four small yellow croakers of the same weight from her right pocket and both trouser pockets, and stuffed them all into Xiao Liu's pocket.

Feeling the heavy weight in his pocket, Xiao Liu hesitated, "What does Senior Sister want me to do?"

"Tomorrow morning, you'll go to the pharmacy to pick up Mr. Jian's batch of nerve-nourishing injections. On your way back to the department, mix this 'additive' into it." Nurse Li took out the colorless vial. "After it's done, I'll give you another two and a half million."

Xiao Liu's legs went weak, and she staggered backward: "Sister Juanjuan, this is murder! And the ward is under such tight security..."

Nurse Li's expression changed, and she whispered sharply, "It's not murder!"

She looked at Xiao Liu's still-childish face, which showed a panicked and helpless expression, and her expression softened slightly.

Nurse Li gently comforted him, "This is just... a metabolic inhibitor to slow down his recovery. The dosage is very small; it won't kill him."

Seeing that Xiao Liu still looked resistant, Nurse Li shook her head and sighed: "Think about your debt, one million! You're only twenty-five years old, your life has just begun! Do you really want to die for a bunch of data?"

Xiao Liu muttered to himself, "Three million..."

This was his only hope of escaping debt and surviving.

Seeing that Xiao Liu was starting to hesitate, Nurse Li continued to persuade her, "It's just on the way back from picking up the medicine, no one will notice!"

Xiao Liu recalled his parents' crying on the debt collection call, the biting cold wind as he stood on the edge of the rooftop, and the two classmates who had already jumped...

He glanced out the window; the thirtieth floor, the same height as that day.

If there were any way, he really wanted to live...

Xiao Liu closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face, feeling utterly dejected.

"...I'll do it."

The next morning, as planned, Xiao Liu picked up a set of nerve-nourishing drugs that Jian Aotian needed that day, packaged in glass bottles, from the central pharmacy.

He carried a pink plastic medicine basket and walked towards the private elevator leading to the VIP ward area.

In the empty elevator, in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras, his palms were covered in cold sweat.

With his back to any possible line of sight, he took out the "additive" with trembling hands, drew it out with a syringe, and then quickly pierced the rubber stopper of one of the main drugs, pushing the liquid in.

Xiao Liu worked very quickly and lightly; the pinhole on the bottle stopper was almost undetectable.

However, at the last moment, a huge fear overwhelmed Xiao Liu.

He suddenly remembered that Senior Sister Li seemed to be having a hard time too.

Metabolic inhibitors... If there's really no problem, why doesn't she earn that money herself? If there's really no problem, why give him three million?

Thinking of this, Xiao Liu shuddered.

So, almost inexplicably, he only pushed in less than a third of it.

"That way... he shouldn't die, right?" he naively thought. "Maybe... he'll just become a little dumber? Anyway, as long as he doesn't recover well, the mission will be considered complete, right?"

A few minutes later, the tampered medicine, along with other medications, was sent to the dispensing room. After being prepared by another nurse who was unaware of the deception, it was strictly inspected and escorted by bodyguards before being dripped into Jian Aotian's vein.

The liquid, drop by drop, silently seeped into Jian Aotian's blood.

...

Just as Chu Xiao pinned Yu Chun to the bed and one hand was already slipping under her skirt, a phone rang urgently.

Chu Xiao paused, seemingly reluctant to answer.

Yu Chun's face was flushed, and she reluctantly pushed the woman off her: "Calling so late, it must be something urgent."

Chu Xiao reluctantly got up from Yu Chun and picked up the phone that was lying on the bedside table.

She raised an eyebrow when she saw the caller ID.

Jian Bing's phone call... Wasn't she personally taking care of Jian Aotian at the hospital recently?

Why is he calling so late? Does that mean Jian Aotian has finally woken up?

Chu Xiao pressed the answer button: "He's awake?"

Jian Bing's panicked voice came through the phone: "She's awake, but..."

"but?"

"But something seems wrong with his brain..."

"???"

Chu Xiao was puzzled. What did he mean by "something went wrong with his brain"?

Jian Bing choked back tears, "Dad seems... to have gone mad!"

...

Thirty minutes later, Chu Xiao and Yu Chun arrived at their family hospital, looking travel-worn.

In the super VIP ward where Jian Aotian was, various experts in white coats surrounded him in layers to observe him and try to examine him.

Jian Aotian hugged the blanket and huddled at the foot of the bed, looking panicked.

“Chairman Jian,” the bald vice president stepped forward and extended his hand to Jian Aotian with a kind expression—

"What are you doing! Get away from me!" Jian Aotian's eyes widened, and he immediately slapped the door open in alarm, screaming, "Where's my mother?"

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! I want my mommy!"

"Mom! Someone's trying to hurt me! Help me!"

Jian Aotian screamed so pitifully that it was heartbreaking to hear and brought tears to the eyes of all who heard it.

At least Jian Bing felt her heart breaking.

Seeing her once upright and strong father transformed into this foolish figure, she wept uncontrollably, her eye makeup stained black and red.

Chu Xiao, his face dark, demanded, "What's going on?"

"this……"

The doctors were sweating profusely and stammering.

The bald vice president took out a handkerchief and kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. His voice trembled slightly: "Mr. Jian... Mr. Jian, after our expert group's preliminary assessment, Mr. Jian's... his current condition is consistent with the symptoms of childhood-like dementia caused by frontal lobe damage."

Chu Xiao said coldly, "Speak like a human being."

“It’s just that…his cognitive function has regressed to that of a young child,” the vice president explained with difficulty. “He has retained some basic life skills and language abilities, but his logic, memory, especially recent memory and understanding of interpersonal relationships…have severely deteriorated. His current mental age is probably…only that of a three or four-year-old.”

As if to prove his words, Jian Aotian on the bed suddenly grabbed a pillow and threw it at the bald vice dean.

The vice dean was caught off guard and his glasses were knocked askew.

He nervously adjusted his glasses.

Chu Xiao's sharp gaze swept over every doctor present—

"Preliminary assessment? So, there are still uncertainties?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the air in the entire ward seemed to freeze.

A neurology director stepped forward, steeling himself: "Mr. Jian, judging from the head CT and MRI images, the hematoma in his brain is indeed being absorbed, and the damaged nerves are slowly repairing. Theoretically, such... such drastic cognitive regression should not occur. We need further consultation and research into the underlying mechanisms."

"Research?" Chu Xiao laughed angrily. "My father was under your top-notch supervision and received the best medicine, but instead of improving, he became 'stupid.' And now you're telling me that 'research' is needed?"

She took a step forward, her gaze falling on the nameplate on the vice dean's chest.

“Vice Dean Zhou,” Chu Xiao announced expressionlessly, “I’ll give you 24 hours.”

"I want to see a detailed report that eliminates all human interference. Including but not limited to... an analysis of the composition of every drop of medication he has received in the past week."

Vice Dean Zhou nodded repeatedly, his face pale.

Chu Xiao stopped looking at him and turned to Jian Bing, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Her tone softened as she said, "Jian Bing, from now on, all of Chairman Jian's treatments and medications are suspended."

She stated unequivocally, "No one except those you and the people I designate is allowed near this ward. I will bring in a team of experts from abroad."

After saying that, she took Yu Chun's hand and turned to walk out.

Yu Chun was still a little dazed.

He subconsciously turned around and glanced at Jian Aotian, who was curled up on the bed and looked completely different from his "business tycoon" image. He felt a chill inexplicably in his heart.

In the corridor, Chu Xiao dialed Wang Xue's number.

"Wang Xue, contact our brain center in Switzerland immediately and ask Professor Mo's team to come as quickly as possible."

“A thorough investigation must be conducted into the backgrounds of all medical personnel who have come into contact with Mr. Jian’s medicines and food in the past week. I need to know if there have been any unexplained fund flows under their names, or those of their immediate family members.”

After hanging up the phone, Chu Xiao looked at the bright moon outside the window, lost in thought.

"You suspect... it wasn't an accident?" Yu Chun asked in a low voice.

"Do you believe it was an accident?" Chu Xiao narrowed his eyes. "There are too many coincidences, so it can't be a coincidence."

She recalled the original work.

In the original novel, Jian Aotian didn't even experience a car accident, let alone become stupid.

"Who is it? Who doesn't want him to wake up..."

Thinking about Wang Erzhuang's report, Chu Xiao felt that she might need to readjust the direction of her investigation.

Meanwhile, inside the ward.

After everyone left, Jian Aotian, who was curled up in the corner of the bed, slowly stopped sobbing.

He buried his face in his knees.

From an angle no one could see, a fleeting, chilling clarity flashed in those eyes, filled with childlike fear.