Chapter 124 Chapter 124

In the darkness, she could hear the sound of wheels rapidly rolling over the ground. The jolts of the car hit her, shaking her so hard she could barely breathe. Someone seemed to be calling her name, the voice urgent, yet so far away that she couldn't quite make out the words.

She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt heavy as lead. In the briefest of moments, she could only see the glaring light of the incandescent lamp flickering overhead. The back of her hand suddenly felt cold. The needle pierced her, and a chill like blood rushing back up her arm spread.

A sour feeling welled up in her throat. She tried to speak, to ask where she was, but all she could get out was a muffled groan. "Stay awake, can you hear me?" a strange voice rang in her ears. She tried to respond,

Her tongue felt stuck, her voice stuck in her throat. When she opened her eyes again, everything around her was a blinding white. The smell of disinfectant mixed with alcohol hit her face, and her stomach cramped. Someone held her shoulders.

With his other hand, he thrust the cold tube down her throat. She instinctively tried to resist, but was held down firmly. "Don't move. Cooperate." A calm voice spoke, as if accustomed to such struggles, his hands merciless.

The tube slid roughly down her throat and into her esophagus. Her internal organs felt like they were being torn apart by a sudden foreign object. The pain was so severe that her vision went black, but she couldn't faint again. Her breath was blocked in her chest, and she instinctively breathed.

In the blink of an eye, she felt a sharp pain spread throughout her limbs. Her body reacted to the pain before she realized it. She twisted desperately.

She wanted to pull the tube out of her body, to fight the force that was firmly holding her hands and feet. As she struggled, she vaguely heard someone say, "It's plugged in."

Almost immediately, the cold liquid poured into my stomach, rapidly stretching the previously constricted cavity, as if it were about to burst my internal organs. Then, a sudden suction force came over me, as if an invisible hand were stirring within the stomach walls, pulling everything up along with the stomach acid.

The urge to vomit surged like a reflex, acid, bitterness, and suffocation mixed together, and her throat felt like it was burning. She tried desperately to breathe, but only choked out more liquid between her nose and mouth.

Tears blurred her vision, streaming down her eyes. Saliva, gastric juices, and nasal mucus mingled as they poured out, her entire body feeling hollowed out and then refilled again and again. She tried to yell for help, but all that remained in her throat were coughs and retching.

Her consciousness was murky for a moment, but she was extremely clear-headed about her current situation—like livestock. Without dignity.

Injecting, withdrawing, over and over again. The agony seemed endless. Her strength drained away bit by bit, like rotten flesh spreading and melting, passively enduring all the sensory torture.

The world receded in the intense pain, and finally her consciousness was once again swallowed by darkness. ... What is it like to go to the emergency room late at night?

Quan Zhilong couldn't remember how he dialed the emergency number, nor how the driver turned around and drove the car to the hospital. Fear was like a sudden tide, flooding over his head, making it impossible to breathe.

His body and mind seemed to be cut in two. He could clearly hear the intermittent sounds inside: vomiting, coughing, uncontrollable sobbing in pain, and even sharp shouts, intertwined with the calm but urgent shouts of the medical staff.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the thin door. He must be dreaming. Otherwise, how could she make such a sound? She was always calm and composed. But that was definitely her.

He had never been more aware that it was she who was suffering so much pain, so much pain that she could not even maintain her remaining human dignity.

The sound was like a hook that dug into his nerves, causing him to feel the same tearing sensation almost simultaneously. His thoughts followed the sobs and screams uncontrollably, as if an imaginary tube had been inserted into his stomach, stirring and tearing at it.

He rushed to the corner and retched into a half-man-high trash can, but nothing came out. The person behind that door wasn't him. He had no idea what to do.

His consciousness seemed to be trapped in a strange vacuum, as if he had thought of everything, and yet as if he had thought of nothing. He walked back to where he had come from, staring at the door without blinking.

Medical staff, patients, family members... footsteps crisscrossed the corridor, but he remained where he was. Someone seemed to recognize him, but only paused briefly before hurriedly leaving. No one paid any attention.

This is a purgatory of time. Patients experience the cycle of time in endless pain, but their families can only pray that they can live a little longer, a little longer. If God could hear, how would these lives beg?

— “God, please let my family live a little longer.” — “God, I’m in so much pain, please let me die.” But there are no miracles here. Pain and loss cannot be forgiven.

Someone's family, loved ones, friends... In life and death, all are equal. After an unknown amount of time, the red indicator light went out, and the door to the emergency room finally opened. The doctor removed his mask, his gaze sweeping across the hallway, landing on the figure standing motionless against the wall.

Having just completed an emergency, his eyes were filled with fatigue—the kind that comes from witnessing life and death. "The patient's condition has stabilized. Fortunately, he was brought to the hospital promptly. We performed a gastric lavage and symptomatic treatment. The patient is still comatose and needs further observation."

Quan Zhilong nodded subconsciously, his voice tense, "How could she...?" The doctor, perhaps recognizing him, whispered, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

He then realized that, without realizing it, people in the corridor had already been looking at him in groups of two or three.

The doctor looked up at him first and then asked, "What is your relationship with the patient? Can any immediate family members be contacted?"

"..." Quan Zhilong's Adam's apple rolled slightly, and after a pause, he said, "I'm her boyfriend. Her family is not in Korea."

The doctor nodded, wrote something down on the medical record, and then continued, "We detected a significant dose of sedatives in her system. Does she have a history of psychiatric medication? Or was it possible she took it accidentally?" Sedatives...

Quan Zhilong's head buzzed and he could hardly understand what he heard.

"Strictly speaking, the dosage wasn't extremely high. But she was so underweight and had clearly been in a state of prolonged fatigue, which magnified the drug's effects and made her reaction more severe than that of an average person. Fortunately, she was taken to hospital promptly, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable."

It's not surprising that public figures would take these medications. Many celebrities who appear normal on the outside actually have serious depression issues. Doctors instinctively speculated in this direction.

"...She has no history of psychiatric medication." Quan Zhilong shook his head in denial. The doctor paused his pen on the medical record and glanced up at him, as if trying to determine its authenticity.

"If the source of the drugs is unknown, we recommend calling the police. It is also a form of protection for the patient himself." Call the police... Quan Zhilong's fingertips suddenly tightened, and a thin layer of cold sweat seeped into his palms.

His previously chaotic mind suddenly cleared up at those two words, and he almost immediately thought of a possibility. If it was him... If it was because of him... He couldn't force himself to think deeply.

His brain seemed to instinctively resist that possibility. Even the mere thought of it made him unable to breathe. His throat felt like it was stuck tightly, and after a long while, he spoke with difficulty: "I... understand."

"Can I go see her?" The doctor calmly closed his notebook and shook his head. "She just had her gastric lavage done, so we can't see her right away. We need to monitor her continuously and transfer her to a VIP room once her vital signs stabilize."

He certainly wasn't stupid enough to ask a public figure if they needed to stay in a regular ward. "How long will it take... for him to stabilize?" "About 24 hours." ... Soon, Bao Heng arrived with the PR department.

When she got a call from her driver in the middle of the night, she thought she was dreaming, but the next second she broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn't get through to Quan Zhilong on the phone. When she finally found him in the stairwell, she was so anxious that she couldn't say a word of blame.

He sat there in the dim corridor, lost and disoriented, like a silent statue, growing together with the shadows. He didn't respond when I called him, and it took a long time before he looked up. Yet, he still remembered to avoid the crowd.

His unfocused gaze fell on Baoheng's face. After a few seconds, he finally realized who it was. "...It's all because of me," he said. It was as if he had withdrawn all emotion and was simply stating a fact.

This was the only thought in his mind. It was all because of him. It was all because of him… "Don't think too much. Go back and get some sleep first." Bao Heng reached out and patted his shoulder, not knowing how to comfort him. "The company will take over the rest of the matter."

The PR people had already gone to suppress the news. Although they intervened very early, it was estimated that many people at the scene had already seen Quan Zhilong, and they had to confirm and take care of them one by one.

Quan Zhilong shook his head, his eyes falling to the ground, and returned to his previous posture. It was as if after saying that, he no longer had the energy to do anything. Baoheng was silent for a moment.

"If you don't want to go back, just go wait in the car. If someone sees us, it will only make her situation worse." He had overdosed on drugs, and if he stayed in the hospital with this expression... the media that heard the news would only tear Lia apart on the hospital bed.

This finally struck a chord with him. Quan Zhilong blinked slowly, as if finally coming to his senses from a trance. He licked his cracked lips, as if about to say something, but no sound came out.

His body became stiff and numb from maintaining the same posture for too long. He struggled to stand up on his knees and walked silently towards the parking lot after a while.

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