Hua Tian Third People's Hospital!
Beep! Beep! Beep!
An ambulance sped into the hospital. Doctors and nurses were already waiting at the entrance, having received prior notice.
Two patients from Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital were in critical condition. Their chances of survival seemed slim.
Li Laifu, the vice president, usually spent his days patrolling the hospital, then returning to his office to drink tea, smoke, read the news, and play on his computer.
But today, he wasn't so relaxed.
He was already waiting in the operating room, scrubbed and gowned, even wearing his rarely-used glasses. The surrounding doctors and nurses waited in silence. Even before seeing the patient, a sense of pressure hung heavy in the air.
Soon, the rolling sound of a gurney approached.
"Excuse me… Please make way."
Nurses pushed the gurney. Passing family members of other patients gasped at Lin Fan's condition. He looked horrific. What had happened to him? For some reason, the surrounding temperature seemed to rise.
The operating room's red light came on.
Lin Fan lay on the operating table. He was usually conscious, but this time, he was unconscious, eyes closed, brows furrowed in pain.
"We meet again. Are the people at the psychiatric hospital fools? They can't even watch their patients?"
"I heard he climbed onto a high-voltage transformer and got electrocuted."
"He's really sick."
"He is sick. Mentally ill."
"Vice President, the patient has severe burns over 50% of his body."
"Not good, his heartbeat is weakening, his breathing is shallow. It's a miracle he's still alive."
As vice president, Li Laifu was a specialist. He wouldn't operate himself unless the situation was dire. He had to admit, he was thoroughly exasperated with Lin Fan. Each incident was worse than the last. Maybe next time, he wouldn't be so lucky.
Nearly ten hours passed.
The surgery ended.
Li Laifu stumbled out of the operating room, nearly collapsing. He sank weakly into a chair, removed his mask, and pulled out his phone.
"Director Hao, you're playing for real this time. He's been revived, but his condition is still critical. The burns are severe, and the follow-up treatment will be complicated. Anything you want to say?"
"Good, don't worry, I'll take good care of him. But this can't happen again. They're getting more and more reckless, flirting with death."
The other party hung up. Li Laifu felt slightly better. He'd expected Director Hao to give him a hard time, but his attitude was surprisingly good. The hospitalization fees were paid in advance, and he'd asked him to take good care of the patient, even offering a word of thanks for his hard work.
That was more like it.
If he'd always been like this, they wouldn't have argued.
Hindsight is 20/20.
In the ward.
Zhang Hongmin was caring for his daughter. Seeing the nurses wheel in a patient, he glanced over curiously, then exclaimed, "Benefactor! You're here again!"
Then, his smile faded, replaced by sadness. "Benefactor, what happened to you?"
Lin Fan was bandaged from head to toe, like a mummy. He said indifferently, "I don't know."
He was awake. His recovery ability was strong. Logically, after being electrocuted so badly, he should have been in a coma, facing a critical period. It was impossible for him to be so lucid.
"Who did this to my benefactor? This is outrageous!"
Zhang Hongmin was furious. This benefactor had donated stem cells and given him money to save his daughter. He was someone Zhang Hongmin felt eternally indebted to.
Seeing him like this broke his heart.
"Your benefactor climbed onto a high-voltage transformer and was electrocuted," the nurse explained. In her years as a nurse, she'd seen many electrocution victims. Generally, eight out of ten died. Those electrocuted by high-voltage transformers never survived. But here was a miracle. He was severely injured, yet alive.
Zhang Hongmin was stunned, his eyes wide. He had so much to say but didn't know where to start. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke:
"Benefactor, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
After calming down, he remembered that his benefactor was a psychiatric patient. Touching a high-voltage transformer didn't seem so outlandish in that context.
Lin Fan lay quietly in bed, staring intently at the ceiling.
Old Man Zhang, completely unharmed after a brief resuscitation following his own electrical encounter, leaned over the bed. "How do you feel?"
"Great," Lin Fan replied.
He couldn't move, tightly wrapped in bandages, only his face exposed, his eyes darting around.
"Old Zhang, at that moment, I really felt it. The spot you poked me, it really worked. I felt power surging through me. What happened was just the electricity purging impurities from my body. They don't understand, so they're panicking."
"When we get home, let's try again."
Lin Fan had enjoyed the sensation of being electrocuted. When he pointed his finger at the sky, he'd felt a strange power surge into his body.
Old Man Zhang agreed, "Absolutely! I'm with you all the way. You're absolutely right. I felt it too when I was electrocuted. It felt like my soul was leaving my body. I felt so light."
Zhang Hongmin listened to the two psychiatric patients converse.
He felt…out of place.
Perhaps this was the joy of the mentally ill.
"Benefactor, high-voltage transformers are dangerous. They can kill you. You mustn't try that again," Zhang Hongmin pleaded, hoping to reach them with his kindness.
"Do you want to try? I can guide your cultivation. You think it's dangerous only because you haven't tried it. If you had, you wouldn't say that," Lin Fan said.
Old Man Zhang nodded. "Exactly!"
They seemed to be on the same wavelength, exchanging glances and then breaking into wide smiles.
In others' eyes, they were courting death. In their own, they were helping each other.
Zhang Hongmin blinked, feeling a deep sense of unease.
If he got electrocuted…
He wouldn't need a hospital; he'd need a crematorium.
He thought, I'm trying to help you, but you want to drag me to my death. I'll just pretend I didn't see anything.
Lin Fan looked at the little girl beside the bed. Their eyes met, and he gave her a gentle look.
"Cute little girl."
Zhang Hongmin felt a surge of fear, worried that his benefactor would take his daughter along on his next cultivation attempt. He needed to be vigilant. Benefactor, I mean no disrespect, but your kindness is terrifying.
Special Department.
The one-eyed man sat at his desk, putting down the phone with a grim expression.
"Still saying you're alright…"