Chapter 6: Doubt (Part One)

This was perhaps the most absurd day in Jiang Hui’s otherwise ordinary life.

“Ms. Jiang, Ms. Jiang, are you alright? If you can understand me, please nod, or you can speak directly... I’m Frye, an intern therapist from the Surgical Ward 3 on the G floor of the Central District Hospital,” said a tall man with brown hair and eyes, standing nearby with a concerned expression.

Returning to consciousness, Jiang Hui felt waves of disorientation. Her head buzzed, and her mind struggled to catch up.

Yet her ears, sharper than her thoughts, quickly picked up certain keywords.

“Hospital,” “surgery,” “treatment room”... Someone had brought her to the hospital? Was she saved?

Her first thought was that she had somehow escaped from that strange place, out of danger. But where exactly was she?

Most of the discomfort in her body had already faded, especially the sharp pain at the back of her head, which was now completely gone. The imbalance in her body temperature she felt before losing consciousness seemed to have returned to normal, making her feel comparatively comfortable overall.

Still, some discomfort lingered—a prickling pain that came and went, inexplicable and persistent. Her entire brain felt swollen, making it difficult to focus.

“Please fetch the G-A3KV4 regenerative soothing agent. There might be an antigen reaction during the healing of her occipital wound,” the foreign doctor named Frye ordered someone to get the medicine.

Jiang Hui thought she definitely needed medication now, preferably something to clear away the fine, stabbing pain she was feeling. But when did hospital drugs start coming with coded numbers and “regenerative agents”? It sounded so mysterious—was this some newly developed medicine?

After a while, she felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder. Intuitively sensing what was about to happen, Jiang Hui tried to resist but was too slow. A thin tube pierced the skin of her neck, and a pale blue liquid flowed in. As the medicine entered her body, the pain that had tangled around her began to ease little by little.

***

After some time, the storm roaring in Jiang Hui’s mind finally calmed, and her thoughts became much clearer. She opened her eyes—this time, fully conscious.

“You’re awake,” the foreign doctor said with certainty in his voice.

Lying there while he stood over her made her feel uneasy, so she struggled to sit up.

“Ms. Jiang, please wait a moment. The medicine has not fully absorbed yet. Sitting up now might affect its effectiveness,” Frye warned.

Hearing this, Jiang Hui stopped and lay back down. “Doctor, may I ask where I am?”

Frye was momentarily taken aback. The first thing this patient asked upon waking was her location? Shouldn’t she be asking about her condition? And the formal address of “doctor”—such an old-fashioned term—made him wonder if she had suffered brain damage.

Still, he could meet this small request. “Ms. Jiang, you are now in Central District Hospital. You suffered severe trauma to your head. Two lobes of your brain were impacted. Although no functional damage hasI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.