Chapter 57 Search At twelve o'clock noon, Jello arrived at the parking lot on time...
At twelve o'clock noon, Jero arrived at the morgue on time and brought food to Mary and Dorothy.
Although it was just ordinary dry bread, Dorothy ate it with great relish, but Mary showed no interest in it.
Knowing his lunch break was limited, Jero didn't wait for them to finish before speaking. "There's a rest area on this floor of the morgue for medical staff. It has a shower and toilet, but few people come here. I found the key today, so it should be fine for you to use it in the middle of the night."
He tossed the key to Dorothy, who had finished her bread, and then looked at Mary. "Your brother is doing well. Although he looks frail, he's in good physical condition. He's recovered faster than expected..." Before he could finish his words, a pair of hands covered his mouth. "Quiet, someone's coming."
"Huh? Who else but me would come to this shabby place at this time?" Jello didn't believe Mary's one-sided statement, but Dorothy believed it without a doubt. She immediately crawled under the white cloth covering the corpse and hid.
"Hey, little girl, you just believe everything she says?" Jero was amused and was about to make a joke, but his expression froze. He then heard two footsteps outside the house. Someone was actually coming!
Who is so outrageous as to come here without taking a lunch break? Jero was about to whisper to Mary, but she had disappeared somewhere and hidden the bottles and jars on the ground in the process. Her efficiency was astonishing.
Should he hide?
If he hadn't been discovered hiding, that would have been fine. But if he had been discovered, wouldn't that have been too strange? But it was also strange that he didn't take a lunch break and stayed in the morgue. How could he explain it?
The sound of the door being opened was so ominous. Jello made the most correct decision at this most dangerous moment. He rushed to the corpse closest to him and got into the safe space formed by the table and white cloth, and happened to bump into Mary.
Jello didn't have time to apologize, his lower body was still outside the white cloth, so he squeezed Mary and whispered, "Move aside a little, let me in!"
"Where is the room left? If you keep pushing me I'll be out!" Mary answered in a whisper. She was speechless that Jello had the good luck of choosing the same place as her.
The sound of footsteps came towards this side, and Jello no longer cared about any etiquette. He exerted force with his hand muscles and lifted Mary up with his arms to hold her on his body. He took advantage of the short gap when the other party was hanging in the air and sat down on the ground. His two exaggeratedly long legs slid under the table and spread out in a V shape.
Mary's back was pressed tightly against his upper body, and her legs were placed in the gap between Jello's legs, barely hiding her.
"There... there seems to be a sound over there...?"
"That's your imagination. I always hear noises every time I come here. Don't worry, there are only dead people in here."
"It's scary because there are sounds where there are dead people, okay?!"
Mary listened attentively, wanting to know what the other person was saying, but the sound of the heartbeat beside her ear was too loud, as powerful as a deer jumping around.
Jello's gorgeous long hair draped softly over Mary's shoulders, tangled with hers like silk that couldn't be cut or untangled. The heavy cloth blocked out the remaining light. Jello unconsciously clasped the warmth in his arms, his lips pressed against her neck, leaving a green tinge like his eyes.
Compared to Jello's half-blind state, Mary's situation is much better. Her vision is not completely restricted by the darkness, and she can barely see other colors.
Where did this guy get this green lipstick? It's fading so badly...
Mary looked down at her palm, where the shape of Jello's lips remained. The strong green color left a heavy mark on her palm, arrogantly declaring her connection with her male master.
"Look what you've done," Mary muttered softly, and wiped her lip balm-stained hands on Jello's pants. Unexpectedly, not only did she fail to wipe it clean, but she also spread it more evenly.
Jello immediately clamped down on Mary's evil hand, and his breathing began to increase. Mary couldn't help but use her elbow to poke his tight abdomen, asking him to be quiet, but it had the opposite effect, and his heartbeat became faster and more obvious.
Is he shy? Mary wondered uncertainly, feeling awkward because of Jello's discomfort.
Feeling her cheeks getting hot, Mary withdrew her thoughts and tried to focus outside again.
The visitors were two young women, one of whom was quite courageous, having come here to seek some quiet and cool air. The other was pacing around in the dim room, and from the sound of her footsteps one could tell she was restless.
"Tell me, why haven't these bodies decayed yet?" The person walking just happened to stop next to Mary and the other girl, frightening them so much that they both covered their mouths at the same time and held their breath.
"It must be those iron balls." The woman sitting casually on the ground said in a tired and sleepy voice. As medical staff, their workload was never less. "You know how powerful these things are. Many major surgeries are successful because of them."
"Yes... just with these iron balls..." The woman next to them started moving again and walked towards the sitting woman, which made Jello breathe a sigh of relief.
God, if he was found out, he would be labeled a lunatic for the rest of his life.
When these two guys saw this, they would definitely run out screaming and then make up a story in a very proud manner.
It might soon be reported that Mr. Zeppeli's son, Jero, the heir to the hospital, had been caught making out with his girlfriend in the morgue in the middle of the day. It was easy to imagine the furor this rumor would create; perhaps even a hundred years from now, the hospital itself would still be talking about it.
"Don't you think it's unfair? Why did the director only pass this technique on to his son and not us?" The woman's voice was filled with indignation. "If we all learned it, the hospital could perform more major surgeries and ensure more patients' survival rates!"
Perhaps because they had a good relationship, the woman sitting there was not surprised. She just said with a hint of sarcasm: "That sounds nice. I think you want to change jobs after learning this technology and open your own clinic to make money."
"What? I can't think this way? Who wants to be someone else's subordinate all their life? I just want to turn things around and become the boss. Is that wrong?"
"That's right, having ambitions and ideas is definitely a good thing." Her companion laughed, "This place is really nice. No one can hear me venting. It's so safe." She was a little proud, "I knew no one would dare to sneak out here to rest. This big place is all ours. We don't have to squeeze in with others anymore."
"Still resting, we should go upstairs, otherwise you will be scolded."
"Oh... let's go, let's go"
The two girls sighed and walked out of the morgue, closing the door.
Dorothy quietly lifted the corner of the cloth and made sure there was no one else around before crawling out. Mary and Jello also came out, tidying up their clothes that had become tangled from being squeezed.
Dorothy noticed that their hair was tangled together, so she quickly went over to help them straighten it out.
"Thank you," Mary thanked Dorothy, but Dorothy waved her hand embarrassedly, indicating that Mary didn't need to be so polite.
Jero said nothing. He was unusually quiet, with his head lowered as if in deep thought, looking at the iron ball spinning at a constant speed on the corpse. It was unknown what he was thinking.
"What's wrong?" Mary asked. Jello pursed his lips and said stiffly, "Nothing." He changed the subject: "I'm leaving soon. Take the key and don't lose it. This place doesn't look as safe as I thought. I'll try to find a new place for you to hide within tomorrow."
Although she felt that Jello's current state was a little strange, Mary didn't really want to dig into his privacy, so she nodded and didn't ask any further questions.
After staying here for a few minutes in a state of restlessness, he left in a hurry. Now only Mary and Dorothy were left in the room.
"Um...Miss Mary..."
"Um?"
"You...you don't have to worry about me, just run away!"
Mary was surprised by Dorothy's resolute look. She placed her hands on her delicate shoulders and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you so excited all of a sudden?"
The woman's eyes were red. "I feel so sorry, Miss Mary, for making you and me feel so scared here... When we see people, we have to hide like rats in the gutter..." Her expression was bleak. "Even if we hide in a place like this, there's a chance we'll be discovered. I think it's only a matter of time before I'm found."
She silently wiped away her tears and took Mary's hand. "Take your brother and flee while you still have a chance. I may not have the chance to leave here, but you still have." She muttered to herself, her nerves high. "My brother's name is Vicar Bibo. Although he holds a low position, he can still buy tickets for you two and escort you away."
She reached into her pocket, took out a small hairpin, and placed it in Mary's palm: "This is a gift from my brother. Just take this to him and he will definitely be willing to help you."
"Calm down, Dorothy." Mary patted her back soothingly, asking her to relax herself. She was so nervous that she couldn't breathe.
That damn guy actually pushed people to this point.
Mary felt the dagger at her waist ready to move. If she hadn't been on a mission and couldn't be exposed immediately, she would have wanted to cut the man's trachea right now and let him die in despair.
Dorothy shrank back into the corner, trembling. The trauma of being beaten would not be eliminated in a short time. Even if the culprit left, the victim would still be in constant fear.
She had thought long and hard last night, but couldn't find a way out. She couldn't go out during the day, and she didn't dare go out at night. The current ruler was a tyrant, and under his rule, Naples' nights were becoming increasingly terrifying, with violence occurring every night. Dorothy was afraid that she would be murdered by the mob before she could find her brother.
Precisely because she was saved, she should be responsible for her own life and should not die so easily.
But... she felt very sorry for Miss Mary.
Looking at Dorothy sobbing in the corner, Mary sighed, leaned against her side, and prayed silently in her heart.
Please hurry up...let it rain.
On the other side, Jero was looking down at the palm of his hand, where an iron ball exactly the same as the one on the corpse was spinning.
Now he can use the iron ball to heal the patient's body, but soon...
Jero thought of his father, who was always calm and indifferent, like a towering iceberg. No one would have thought that he was actually an executioner.
And in a few years, he would take over his father's job, using the iron ball that worked miracles in his hand to suppress criminals and then chop off their heads with a sharp knife.
Would the two nurses scream in fear when they learned how to use the iron ball? And what expression would Mary, the brave girl, have when she learned this?
Jello couldn't figure it out, and he didn't have time to think about it.
Stifling a gloomy expression, Jello stuffed the iron ball into the drawer alongside the baby bear. He adjusted his expression hidden beneath the mask and said to the patient with a runny nose, "Alright, tell me about your condition. The more detailed the better."
…
This was Mary and Dorothy's third day on the ground floor. The dark room would make people instinctively manic, but Mary and Dorothy accepted it well.
Just as Mary expected, Jello couldn't find anywhere else to put them, so they had to stay here.
All Jello could do now was bring them his own quilts and secretly buy them some clothes. Blackmoya had also come down to see Mary. They spoke in English, which Dorothy couldn't understand, but she knew that the pale man disliked her very much.
Dorothy knew she was a burden, so she huddled in the corner, covering her ears and appearing the most harmless. She was right. The man sighed, ended the topic, and faded away like a bat in the night.
Mary would often walk around the room, measuring every inch of the morgue with her feet. Dorothy felt that Mary had no time to waste, so she began to braid Mary's hair and tell her many stories from the past.
For example, when she was very young, her brother caught a snow-white rabbit for her. She raised it for less than a week before the white rabbit, with its belly full of food, dug a hole and escaped from its home.
For example, she loves reading and writing. She has five or six thick diaries in her drawer. I wonder if they are now moth-eaten. She hasn't been home for a long time, and her house must be covered in dust.
Mary listened and occasionally spoke, telling stories about her time with the Indians.
Supplies were scarce in the desert, and she was a white pig, which the Indians hated, so Yinren could only give her half of his rations, and she often went hungry. When Yinren's sister saw her for the first time, she wanted to kill her, but Yinren stopped her and swore to her sister that she was innocent.
"They wanted to name me Wolf, to indicate that I was as strong and agile as a wolf. But then..." Mary stopped talking. She didn't say anything more, and Dorothy didn't urge her. She patiently combed Mary's hair, as gently as a bird pecking its feathers.
Mary stood up. Dorothy thought she must have heard something. Normally, Mary would have taken her into hiding, but this time she looked a little uneasy.
The door opened, and outside was Jello, who was gasping for breath. He looked extremely uneasy, and his chest was wet with sweat, sticking to his skin. "That guy... is here."
Many times, waiting is much more painful than getting the result. When the sickle was swung down instead of stopping above her head, Dorothy seemed particularly calm and composed.
She walked towards Jero and said in a gentle voice: "He is here, right?" Before her death, she hugged Mary beside her and said: "May God bless you forever."
Jeroboam bit his lower lip. If it weren't for him, this situation wouldn't have happened. His father was right. He was always reckless and impulsive, and then got into big trouble.
Today he was treating a patient when a nurse came running over, looking a little scared: "Doctor Zeppelin...something's wrong. Please go and take a look."
Seeing the expression on the nurse's face and the sweat on her forehead, Jero instinctively felt something was wrong. "What's wrong?" He looked at the patient sitting across from him, waiting to be seen. The patient was very sensible and immediately smiled and said, "It's okay. I have plenty of time. There's no rush."
"Thank you."
Jero quickly stood up from his seat and followed the nurse out. The nurse was a very smart girl and immediately began to explain the situation: "This is what happened. Today, a patient insisted on cutting in line, which angered everyone. We immediately called the medical staff to make adjustments and asked him to take a number and sit on a chair to wait... But he hit the nurse who tried to comfort him and said that our hospital was really blind and deserved it..."
Who is so blind as to cause trouble in their hospital?
Upon hearing this, Jero clucked his tongue in displeasure. While it's true that ordinary people might be unaware of the Zeppeli family's other identity, simply regarding it as an ordinary hospital, the upper-class individuals who knew of their identities were always extremely polite and courteous to them.
Princes and nobles of a higher level would specifically ask their fathers and themselves to come to their homes for treatment and would not condescend to set foot in the hospital.
It is also because of this that Jello has never encountered anything that can be called a medical dispute in his life.
Who is so crazy?
"Where's father?" Jello asked
"Mr. Zeppelin is currently undergoing surgery. It should be finished in ten minutes." The nurse clutched her skirt. "So you are the most important person in charge of the hospital now, that's why I came to see you..."
"Well, you did the right thing." Jello took off the mask that was in the way. He wanted to see who dared to mess with them.
As soon as she turned the corner, the nurse spotted the culprit in the crowd and shouted, "Sir, he's the one causing the trouble!"
The visitor had an appearance that was very familiar to Gero Zeppeli. He had a plaster on the back of his head and was sitting calmly surrounded by several guards. Opposite him was a trembling doctor who was asking about the other's condition.
When the doctor saw Jello, he was delighted and ran towards him quickly, feeling that he had become much braver.
Jero couldn't put the mask strap in his hand down. At that moment, he even wanted to yell at the innocent nurse beside him: "Can't you just point it out to me quietly? Why do you have to shout it out loud?"
But there is no if
Jero Zeppelin watched the bastard look in their direction and narrowed his eyes.
The other person stood up from his chair and looked up at Jero arrogantly: "Oh? You are the person in charge of this hospital?"
Jero Zeppelin's rising heart suddenly calmed down. He breathed a sigh of relief, crossed his arms, and looked at Feisa Deman with the same rather rude expression: "Yes, what's the matter?"
His expression immediately caused the irritable fool to roar, "Since you're in charge, you should know who you shouldn't offend!" He proudly pointed at his family crest and said, "Open your eyes and see clearly. I'm a baron!"
Picking his ears impatiently, Jero Zeppeli snorted coldly, "As far as I know, the person in power now is your father. What are you doing barking here, a guy without any real power?"
His bluntness was beyond the other party's expectations. This frog-in-the-well man had never imagined that anyone would dare to disrespect him. He ignored the guards' attempts to stop him and rushed over to grab Jero Zeppeli's collar, "Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you speak to me like that!"
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you this, buddy?" Compared to the outwardly strong but inwardly weak Fiza, Jero Zeppelin was far more formidable. He easily pulled the other's dirty hand away. If there weren't so many people watching this farce, he would have even wanted to punch him in the face.
You're just a small fry, yet you dare to shout like that.
After hearing his words, a more complicated expression appeared on the man's ferocious face. He repeated Jello Zeppeli's words in a low voice, and suddenly his eyes flashed with the glare of a hungry wolf seeing flesh and blood. It was dazzling and shocking: "I remember!"
He let out a nervous shrill laugh: "It was you! I definitely didn't remember it wrongly! It was you who ruined my plans in the tavern!"
Like sharp nails scratching glass, a happy smile appeared on the man's face: "You all, search for me!"
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Jero Zeppelin roared, "No one is allowed to move. I want to see who dares to act wildly on the Zeppelin family's territory!"
"What's going on?" Gregory Zeppelin's soft voice made the noisy noise fade away like a tide.
This middle-aged man wasn't particularly tall, but he held a certain intimidating presence. Not to mention Jero, even that jerk Reisa had calmed down his frantic expression, though his expression still wasn't particularly good.
"Father..." Jero whispered to the middle-aged man in front of him, "Not only did this man cut in line, he also injured our nurse. I..."
"Then why did this gentleman mention words like tavern and search when I came?" Gregory's voice remained flat, but it struck Jello's heart like thunder.
He knew that if his father knew the truth, he would not feel any sympathy at all. He would only scold him for his impulsiveness and would not provide any help at all.
Even though he didn't want to lie, Jello still said, "How should I know what he's talking about? This guy has a problem with his brain."
Resa's ability to put on a good show was truly exceptional; otherwise, he wouldn't have managed to coax Wicca Bibo into a frenzy and even marry his sister. He instinctively sensed that this middle-aged Zeppeli was not to be trifled with, and immediately adopted the air of a victim.
"Mr. Zeppeli, please seek justice for me." The man shed two crocodile tears. "Not only is your son rude to me now, he also hurt me in the tavern and even took away my wife!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar. The patients' back pain and leg soreness were gone, and they all pricked up their ears quietly.
"You!" Before Jello could say anything, his father raised his hand, which meant silence.
Gregory first called the hospital security personnel to clear the corridor so that the patients could continue to queue in an orderly manner, and at the same time sent the injured nurse for treatment. After the chaotic hospital returned to its original order, he invited Resa to his studio.
"Sir, please explain the whole story clearly and provide evidence." Gregory gestured to his son and Sari to sit on the chairs opposite his table, looking calm and composed.
Sari glared at Jello and then shed crocodile tears: "Sir, I know you are a good man, but it's a pity that you gave birth to a rude and useless child." Seeing Jello clenching his fists in anger but unable to get angry, he felt a little better.
"Well, five days ago, I was having dinner with my wife at a tavern. She couldn't handle the alcohol and quickly got drunk, so I helped Dorothy up. Unexpectedly, your son attacked me without any reason!" Feisa pointed to the back of his head. "Now I think I'm suffering from the aftereffects. I feel dizzy from time to time."
Did this guy forget Mary existed?
Jero thought about it and figured the man wasn't being deliberate. Mary and Dorothy looked completely different, but they happened to have similar-length curly brown hair. Intoxicated people's ability to discern things would be significantly impaired, so the guy might have mistaken Mary for Dorothy's double.
Feisa didn't notice that Jello's fingers clenched and unclenched, and continued to talk fluently: "Not only did he pinch my arm, he also attacked me with a hidden weapon!" He shook his right hand, which had a round bruise on it, which looked particularly horrifying.
Jero's father immediately understood that this was a scar that could only be inflicted by an iron ball. He gave Jero a serious look, then quickly fixed his gaze on the man beside him. "I didn't choose to argue with him at the time. I just took my wife and left quickly. But I never expected that he would follow me and knock me unconscious. When I woke up, my poor wife was gone. She wouldn't have left me alone, and there was no trace of her at home. He kidnapped her!"
Gregory was not moved by the other party's words. He looked like a judge rather than a doctor.
"Are you finished, sir?"
Perhaps not expecting the other party to be so tactless, Feisa Mander quietly gritted his teeth and squeezed out the words from his throat: "Well, I'm done."
"Okay, Jello, now it's your turn."
Jero Zeppelin took a deep breath and began his own story: "I did meet this gentleman in the pub five days ago, but he was not helping his wife up, he was beating her at home."
"You're talking nonsense!"
"You know whether I'm lying or not." Jello told his father the location of the tavern. "You'll know whether I'm lying or not if you go there and ask. I admit that I did attack him in the tavern, but I... didn't knock him out."
He is really not good at lying, so he can only tell half the truth.
"Jero..." His father's green eyes stared at him. "I remember what happened five days ago. How long ago did the incident happen?"
Knowing his father suspected Mary was Fisa's wife, Jero quickly gave the time: "I escorted Mary home around 8:30, and that's when I ran into you. As for the conflict with this guy, it was around 10:30 pm."
Gregory looked at Fisa. After confirming that what he said was true, his expression softened a little. "Mr. Deman, your wife is not in my son's hands. He returned home alone five days ago. I think there is a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Resa snorted coldly. He realized that the balance in the old man's heart had shifted towards his son, so there was no possibility of him being polite.
"You're all colluding to fool me!" The man stood up from his seat, glaring at Gregory with gritted teeth. "Alright, since you have a clear conscience, you don't have to worry about being searched."
"What do you mean?!" Jero Zeppelin stood up, stood in front of his father, and questioned Resa.
"Don't you understand with your stupid head? I'm going to search your hospital!" Resa Deman crossed her arms and said, "If my wife isn't in your hospital, I'll naturally apologize for my rude behavior. If I find my wife, you can expect a duel with me!"
"You dare!"
"Alright!" Gregory raised his voice, suppressing the tension between the two men in front of him: "Let him search, Jello."
"What? Father, you want him to?" Jello couldn't believe his ears, but Gregory had made up his mind.
"As this gentleman said, since you have a clear conscience, being searched is no big deal. Of course, to prevent this gentleman from lying, I will have the security personnel accompany us." Gregory looked at the proud young man. "If my son is wrong, I will permanently dismiss him from his position in the hospital and forbid him from practicing medicine from now on. But if my son is not wrong, then you must also be responsible for your words and actions."
Humph, what can this old guy do to him?
Reisa waved her hand nonchalantly and strode out.
Jero felt sweat secreting from his palms. If he really wanted to search, it would only be a matter of time before he found Mary and Dorothy.
He had to notify them in advance so that they could quickly escape from the hospital and take shelter outside.
Thinking of this, Jello also walked out the door, but heard his father's words: "Where do you want to go, Jello?"
"I..." Jero didn't dare look directly at his father's stern face and made up a lie that he himself didn't believe: "I'm going to the bathroom... I'll be back soon, I promise!"
Silence filled the two of them. It felt like a few seconds, but also like a whole century. Jero heard his father sigh, "Go, Jero." He waved his hand, looking old and tired, "Go soon and come back soon."
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