Chapter 165 A Glimmer of Hope
"Yes! Get him out! The Lu family can't keep such a menace!"
"The old man was brought down by her!"
"Jingyan! You've been foolish! You killed your grandfather for the sake of such a woman!"
Those distant relatives who had just been subdued by Lu Jingyan started to clamor again, their resentful and angry gazes turning into sharp arrows, aimed at Bai Shu.
Lu Jingyan's eyes instantly became bloodshot.
The immense grief and the sudden bad news weighed heavily on his heart, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
But when these foul words were directed at the people behind him, an emotion more violent than sadness, an overwhelming killing intent, exploded from his body.
He even felt a pang of self-reproach. If it weren't for him, if he hadn't insisted on marrying Wan Tang, would his grandfather have worried so much, wouldn't he...?
Just as he was trembling violently and about to be overwhelmed by grief, a cool yet incredibly strong hand gripped his tightly.
The force was less like soothing and more like a command.
Lu Jingyan subconsciously looked down and met those bright, frightening peach blossom eyes.
There was no sadness, no fear, no resentment.
In those eyes, there was only an almost cold calm and an unquestionable determination.
"It's not the final step yet."
"Let me in and take a look."
Su Wantang's voice echoed in the corridor.
At this moment, she was no longer Su Wantang, the coquettish woman who would snuggle in his arms, but Bai Shu, the decisive and ruthless woman who could carve a path to survival from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
"Nonsense!"
The doctor who had previously announced the death was the first to step forward. He was already exhausted from the failed resuscitation attempt, and was now further enraged by this "layman's" remark.
"You have no idea about the patient's condition! Going in now will only disturb the elderly person's final moments; what can you do? This is disrespectful to the deceased!"
Lu Zongren found a new point of attack. He slammed his cane heavily on the ground and roared at the top of his lungs.
"What else do you want to do! You killed the old man, wasn't that enough? Now you want to go in and desecrate his body?! You vicious woman! Guards! Throw her out of here!"
Several younger members of the Lu family immediately stepped forward.
Lu Jingyan suddenly raised his head and took a step forward.
With just one step, the palpable killing intent brought down from the battlefield terrified those few restless individuals, causing their legs to buckle and them to freeze in place.
His gaze wasn't on the clamoring clansmen, but fixed intently on Bai Shu's eyes.
In those eyes, he saw something he had never seen before. It wasn't comforting words, nor was it bravado; it was a confident arrogance, a power capable of turning the tide.
He didn't know where this power came from, but he chose to believe it unconditionally.
"Let her in."
Lu Jingyan's voice was hoarse, yet it carried a resolute determination.
The doctor was stunned: "Commander Lu, you..."
Lu Jingyan interrupted him, speaking slowly and deliberately, his voice not loud, but it resounded throughout the entire corridor.
I will take full responsibility for all the consequences!
This statement stunned everyone.
Lu Zongren trembled with rage, pointing at Lu Jingyan, unable to utter a single word for a long time: "You...you..."
Bai Shu didn't look at anyone else. She gripped Lu Jingyan's hand tightly, gave him a reassuring look, then turned around and pushed open the heavy iron door that separated life and death without hesitation.
The smell of disinfectant in the ward was so strong it was pungent.
The screens of various life monitoring instruments have turned into lines of despair, emitting a faint and monotonous "beep" sound.
On the hospital bed, the once powerful and influential head of the Lu family was now emaciated, his eyes closed, his face etched with a deathly pallor.
If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, he would have looked no different from a corpse.
Su Wantang's heart was pierced with pain.
This old man genuinely loved Lu Jingyan and truly accepted her. He used his prestige to forge an identity for her and to support her within the compound.
She quickly stepped forward, clearing her mind of all distractions.
Slender, fair fingers gently rested on Old Master Lu's wrist.
Close your eyes.
In an instant, her entire demeanor changed.
A very subtle, almost imperceptible internal force silently entered Old Master Lu's meridians from the Taiyuan acupoint on her fingertip.
This was the first time she had used the internal energy of the Taiyi Xuanjing for such a precise diagnosis.
In the Begonia Space, within that inherited library, countless rare medical case books flashed through her mind.
"The pulse is deep, slow, hesitant, and weak... all five internal organs and six bowels show signs of decay..."
"No...no!"
Su Wantang's brows furrowed more and more tightly.
The old man's pulse was too strange!
The heart meridian, liver meridian, lung meridian... each one shows signs of decay, but these signs of decay are chaotic and disorganized, not conforming to the transmission pattern of any disease.
It's like... someone forcibly and brutally stuffed countless terminal illnesses into this body.
Her internal energy, like an invisible thread, traveled upwards along her meridians.
Brain, spinal cord, central nervous system...
finally!
Right at the very end of the old man's central nervous system, on an extremely hidden neuronal node, she "saw" something unusual.
It was an extremely faint, inert substance that had almost become integrated with the nerve tissue.
It is inactive and destructive; it simply lingers there quietly. Even the most sophisticated modern instruments would never be able to detect its existence unless a thorough, comprehensive search using internal energy is conducted.
That's it!
In Su Wantang's mind, a black-covered, titleless book of poisons automatically turned to a certain page.
It depicts a butterfly with wings like withered leaves, and next to it are three blood-red characters.
Dead Leaf Butterfly!
An extremely sophisticated and vicious complex chronic toxin!
This toxin itself is completely inert and harmless to the human body before it is activated. However, once it encounters a specific trigger drug, it can completely destroy the human central nervous system at a rate that increases exponentially within just a few hours, leading to the functional failure of all organs in the body!
Its symptoms are exactly the same as those of multiple organ failure before natural death!
Modern medicine simply cannot detect it!
What a ruthless tactic! What a brilliant scheme!
The Watchmaker! The Eagle's Nest!
Su Wantang suddenly opened her eyes, a chilling glint flashing in them.
She withdrew her hand, turned around, and walked out of the ward.
Outside the door, everyone watched her with bated breath; the corridor was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Lu Jingyan rushed over immediately, supporting her arm. His lips were trembling, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Bai Shu looked at his eyes, which were filled with pain and hope, and his expression became more solemn than ever before.
"Grandpa is not sick."
Her voice was clear and steady.
"It's poisoning."
The two words, like a thunderclap, exploded in everyone's ears!
"Poisoning?" the doctor exclaimed in disbelief.
"Impossible! We've conducted the most comprehensive tests, including blood and bodily fluid analysis, and there's absolutely no sign of any toxins! Don't spout nonsense here!"
"Exactly! I think you're just trying to shirk responsibility!" Lu Zongren immediately found a new pretext to criticize.
"How could the old man have been poisoned when he was perfectly fine! I think it was you, you poisonous woman, who poisoned him!"
Bai Shu didn't even bother to give him a glance.
She simply looked at Lu Jingyan and continued, "I can save him."
These three words instantly ignited a raging fire in Lu Jingyan's almost lifeless eyes!
He gripped Bai Shu's shoulders tightly, his voice trembling: "Wantang...you...what did you say?"
"I can save them," Bai Shu repeated, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
"However, I need an absolutely quiet, undisturbed environment, and... some very special medicinal herbs. They certainly won't be available in the hospital."
"That's a fantasy! It's utter nonsense!" The doctor's face turned red with anger.
"You can't even find the cause of the illness, how can you save him? You're playing with the old man's life! I absolutely disagree!"
“That’s right! We disagree too!” the elders echoed. “This is murder! You want to use the old man as your guinea pig!”
Amidst a cacophony of opposition and condemnation, Lu Jingyan seemed to have shut out all the noise.
He simply looked into her eyes, those eyes that he knew so well, yet now shone with a light he had never seen before.
He used all his strength to squeeze out a few words from his throat.
What are the chances of success?
The entire corridor fell silent instantly.
All eyes were focused on Bai Shu's breathtakingly beautiful face, which was now as calm as still water.
Meeting his gaze, which was filled with the last glimmer of hope, Su Wantang parted her red lips slightly and clearly uttered two words.
"Ten percent."
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