Chapter 29 Awakening? The clues have gone cold.
Allen had never observed the operating lights on the operating table from this angle before. He suddenly felt that the operating lights were like a torture device that cut the human body into countless specimens, and now they were cutting him into pieces.
So this is what it feels like to lie on the operating table. It's so strange.
Allen tried to raise his hands to struggle, but the powerlessness after the anesthesia made him feel like a lamb to the slaughter. This ignited a fire of anger within Allen; he hated the feeling of not being able to control himself.
But then he heard Dr. Miller's calm voice: "Dr. Jones! The patient has awakened during the operation; the anesthesia depth is insufficient!"
Soon, Allen felt a cold liquid flow into his body through his veins, and then he knew nothing more.
When he woke up again, he saw Matthew's anxious and tired face.
He realized that he was surrounded by instruments used to monitor vital signs, just like the patients he had treated before.
He should be in the ICU.
He tried to lift his hand to remove the breathing mask, but felt his body was unusually heavy. Even the slightest movement of his fingers caused him excruciating pain.
"You're finally awake! That's great!" Matthew fumbled for the call button.
Nurse Maggie followed Dr. Miller in quickly.
"Oh my god, Dr. Osborn, you're finally awake! Do you know you've been unconscious for three whole days!" If Dr. Osborn weren't covered in tubes, Maggie would have pounced on him and given him a long-awaited hug.
Allen recalled fragments of memories intermittently, but they were not very clear.
He only remembered that he seemed to be saving someone, and then the next second he was stabbed. Who did it?
“Alan, you scared us to death!” Dr. Miller smiled at Alan, then made a face. “Do you know how dangerous it was on the operating table that day? You had all three elements of death from external trauma at the same time!”
The three factors contributing to death from traumatic injury are hypothermia, acidosis, and coagulation disorders.
These three factors are interconnected and mutually causal. When a patient's blood temperature is too low and acidity is too high, the blood cannot clot, exacerbating the patient's blood loss. However, if the patient receives an extracorporeal blood transfusion, the blood temperature will drop further and the acidity will increase further, ultimately leading to a vicious cycle of deterioration and self-destruction.
"Thank goodness you pulled through." Matthew's eyes were a little red. He carefully avoided the various testing devices attached to Allen's body, bent down and gently gave Allen a hug. "Don't do this again next time. I can't lose you."
Harry hid in the corner and watched for a long time. Finally, he secretly turned his back to wipe his tears, afraid that his brother would notice something was wrong.
“I only went back to sleep for a while and you’ve already messed yourself up like this. Why don’t you come back to New York with me sooner and stay at the Osborn Corporation?” Harry walked to Allen’s bedside and pulled his brother’s hair without any politeness. “If you like surgery, I’ll build you a hospital in New York and you can be the director.”
"...So, what happened?" Allen opened his mouth to speak, but the breathing mask blocked his way.
Matthew comforted him, "Don't worry, Alan. I'm here for you. You won't get hurt again."
According to Matthew, what happened that day was a vicious medical dispute, and the people he abandoned in the hospital lobby were Alex Pedro's parents.
Of course, the Pedros were not the only ones who died in the emergency room that day due to the blizzard and car accident, but Alex, who lost his entire family, insisted that Allen's improper treatment delayed his parents' best rescue time, ultimately causing their deaths.
To make matters worse, just a minute before he was to see Allen, he received a call from the emergency room receptionist informing him that his brother, who had also been injured in the car accident, had died on the way to West Charity Hospital.
Within just a few hours, only Alex remained of the family of four.
After an unknown internal struggle, he impulsively picked up a scalpel and stabbed Allen more than a dozen times.
Immediately afterwards, he ran to the top floor of Brudhaven and jumped off.
The emergency room was in chaos, and no one paid attention to Alex, who was covered in blood, running up to the roof.
It wasn't until the security guard at the door rushed in and told everyone that the ambulance parked at the door had been hit by Alex falling from the sky that anyone remembered to push open the treatment room where Allen was.
The scene almost made Maggie cry, but fortunately, the professional nurse remained calm. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she rushed forward and called a doctor to give Alan first aid.
In the end, Dr. Andy Miller, whose arm had finally returned to normal, wheeled Allen into the operating room and desperately saved his life.
Allen found it increasingly strange: "...So Alex Pedro and James Pedro are both dead?"
Matthew knew what Allen wanted to ask, and he nodded. "Don't worry, Officer Grayson is already investigating. But based on the traces left in the operating room, that's the situation so far... You really don't remember any details at all?"
Allen shook his head; all he remembered was someone stabbing him a few times.
“To be precise, it was 13 cuts. Your liver and spleen were stabbed, so I had to remove a small piece of your spleen and a small piece of your liver. You shouldn’t mind, right?” Miller winked playfully. “After all, I also stitched up the wounds on your intestines and stomach.”
Allen wanted to roll his eyes, but he couldn't quite manage it.
He found it absurd because it was clearly a premeditated murder. He had just found a lead on drugs when Alex and James were both dead, and the lead went cold again.
“Mrs. Laura has already taken her daughter back. Dr. Miller checked on Grace, and she has recovered.” Matthew straightened the blanket for Allen. “Don’t worry about the rest, we’ll take care of it.”
Allen keenly noticed: "Us?"
Has Daredevil come looking for you again? You should avoid contact with him, understand?!
Matthew couldn't help but chuckle. He reached out and patted Allen's head, then, just like when they were children, leaned down and placed a gentle goodnight kiss on Allen's head: "Sleep a little longer, darling. None of this matters to you. All you need to do is get better. When you're feeling better, I'll tell you a secret, okay?"
Now Allen had no choice but to shakily remove the oxygen mask from his face: "...You...you're going to betray God? No...no!"
Matthew almost laughed out of anger.
He covered Allen's eyes with his hand and said irritably, "Alright, go to sleep!"
Allen closed his eyes, and then a feeling of utter exhaustion overwhelmed him.
As the bright light faded and darkness returned, Allen suddenly smelled a faint scent of disinfectant emanating from Matthew's sleeve. Whether it was his imagination or not, the familiar smell was mixed with a strange, sweet, metallic scent, which involuntarily reminded him of a bloodstained knife.
It also inexplicably reminded him of the laughter he heard on the other end of the line when he contacted Lex Luthor before.
"Goodnight, Allen." Matthew's gentle voice reached Allen's ears, causing his consciousness to gradually drift into slumber.
**
Meanwhile, Nightwing and Batman were in their secret base, staring intently at the surveillance video.
Bruce arrived in Brudhaven shortly after the blizzard.
He knew that Dick had sent a message to Red Robin, warning them of a potential crisis from the magical side, but Dick didn't elaborate.
“From what I know, Alex isn’t usually this impulsive,” Dick said. “Everyone in the police department used to say he was mild-mannered and polite, a rare good cop in Brudhaven. Although people are capable of anything when they’re impulsive and desperate,… I just feel like something’s not right.”
That's certainly true. Bruce thought, looking at the magnified image of Alex Pedro on the screen.
His investigation had progressed to the Pedro family's case, and he should have been able to find more information had it not been for the sudden blizzard and the terrible accident.
But now, the blizzard has killed the Pedro brothers, and the entire family has perished on the same day.
“Someone is preventing us from continuing the investigation. We need to find out exactly how they controlled the Pedro family,” Bruce said. “Is there anything unusual with Dr. Osborn?”
“…I haven’t seen him yet.” Dick pursed his lips.
"The emergency room said he's already awake."
Dick visibly breathed a sigh of relief; his terrible complexion, caused by consecutive all-nighters, finally looked a little better.
“Perhaps he has some clues,” Batman said. “I suggest you go ask him.”
Dick fell silent again.
He didn't actually know why he wasn't going to see Allen.
Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps out of worry about hearing news he didn't want to hear, his first thought when he learned that Matthew, Fergie, and Harry had been staying with Alan at the hospital was to back down.
He told himself that finding out who murdered Allen was more important, and that going to see Allen now would not only be pointless, but might also make Matthew and Harry very angry.
Bruce looked at the silent Dick and sighed.
He had never seen Dick so cautious before.
People often say that fear stems from having a weakness, dread from being deeply in love, and hesitation from caring too much.
Dick seems genuinely fond of Dr. Osborn, but Bruce isn't optimistic about the relationship. Alan Osborn himself harbors too many secrets, and the Osborn family itself has its problems.
“There’s some kind of residue in his blood.” Bruce stared at the computer. “I have a guess. Maybe you could get some blood samples from Dr. Osborn. We need to do cross-testing.”
Dick gave a vague reply.
As the sun rose, Dick finally stepped out of the secret base and looked up at the horizon.
The blizzard had passed, and now a bright sunrise was shining in the sky. The morning dew brought a chill, and Dick shivered involuntarily.
He drove at breakneck speed to his and Allen's apartment, took a quick shower, changed into normal, decent clothes, and then stepped on the gas. The old Jetta sped toward the Broodhaven emergency room.
The emergency room doors were right in front of him. Dick got out of the car, hesitated for half a minute in front of the emergency room sign, and finally decided to go in.
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