48 Hours a Day

The lady doctor looked at the two people standing in front of her.

“Close enough. I am his sister, and she is his...” Fan Meinan hesitated.

“...girlfriend.” Han Lu continued.

“Great! We have been looking for his family. He’s not in good condition now,” the doctor went on. “His fever is not dropping, and his temperature has exceeded 40 degrees Celcius. I’ve just given him an injection bring the fever down. Who will pay for his consultation and treatment?”.

“Give me the bill.”

Han Lu took the bill and hurried to the payment counter.

“We just heard the broadcast? What happened to him?” asked Fan Meinan. “He was fine when we separated ten minutes ago.”

“That’s what we are trying to figure out. Since you are his sister, do you know anything about his medical history? Anyone in your family experienced something like this before?”

“As far as I know, he’s always been in good health.”

“I can see the looks healthy as well. When we found him, he had fainted outside the elevator. So we’ve done some checks on him, but I can’t give you an answer before the results come out. It would be best if you prepare for the worst. He’s really not looking

good.”

As soon as the doctor was done talking, a nurse ran towards her. “Doctor Zhou, the patient is critical! His temperature is still rising, and his breathing is becoming more and more difficult as well.”

“Sorry, I’ll have to check on my patient now.”

The doctor put on a mask and strode into the emergency room. “What happened?” Han Lu asked after settling the bills.

“I don’t know, but I believe he needs our help right now. Whatever or whoever that made him sick, the source should still be in the hospital. Modern medical procedures may not solve this problem. We must find that thing that dropped this grave illness on him. Only that thing can save him.” Fan Meinan frowned. “I strongly recommend that you stay here this time because this matter is far more dangerous than we could ever imagine.”

“How do you know what I imagine?” Han Lu said calmly.

“Did you think you could understand the truth of this world with just a few words from us?” Fan Meinan shook her head. “This world is far crazier and a hell lot more dangerous than you think.”

“I haven’t closed my eyes for nearly forty hours. Whether this incident happened or not, I’ll be like a crazy woman anyway.” Han Lu gulped down another can of coffee in an increasingly futile attempt to keep herself awake.

“Fine.”

Time was quickly running out, and no one knew how long Zhang Heng could last. So Fan Meinan did not try to talk her out of it anymore. She rubbed her chin in contemplation. “First of all, we must determine where Zhang Heng was attacked. Before we went after the bait, and, let’s assume Zhang Heng found my sister and successfully kept her under control... wasn’t he was supposed to meet up with us after that? So the question is, why did he come to this floor?”

“Because he realized in the elevator that something was wrong with his body?”

“You might be right. Zhang Heng is usually very calm and cautious. He wanted to get off the elevator after realizing that something was wrong, which explains why he wanted to return to the previous floor. In the end, he passed out in front of the elevator.” Fan Meinan bit her lips and continued to analyze, “So the thing that caused his sickness should still be on the floor where Wang Shuangshuang is. And this thing apparently didn’t attract his attention in the beginning. Hold on. There are still many areas that we need to cover. We’d better check the surveillance video to find out what happened to him.”

“How do we get the surveillance video?’

“I’ll take care of it.” Fan Meinan said.

“In that case, let’s split up. I will go up and see what I find first. Your sister doesn’t know of my existence. It should be safer if it’s me,” said Han Lu.

“Okay, be careful.”

Ten minutes later, Fan Meinan looked at the male security guard who fell into a coma in the men’s toilet cubicle. She took off the clothes from him and put it on. Now, she had wholly transformed into the security guard. Fan Meinan locked the door, put up a Cleaning-Under-Process sign at the toilet entrance, and returned to the monitoring room. The guard’s partner saw him come in. “What took you so long? Something wrong with your kidneys?”

“No, I ran into Doctor Zhou. Someone passed out in the corridor just now. Doctor Zhou wanted to know why, so she asked us to send her a copy of the surveillance video.”

His partner showed a look of surprise. “Unless the chairman approves, no one is allowed to view the surveillance video. Doctor Zhou should know about this.”

“Yes... I know the rules, but we have an urgent situation now. A patient is in grave danger, and he might die if Doctor Zhou can’t find the cause quickly. We can talk about the approval later,” said Fan Meinan.

“Wow... did you take the wrong pills today?” The eyes of the guard’s partner widened. “Don’t you know that rules are rules? Doing this will cost us our jobs!” He paused. “I don’t want to see someone dying either, but this is a hospital, and people die here every day. All we have to do is to do our jobs well.”

“You’re right,” Fan Meinan sighed. “Trust me; I don’t want to do this to you either.” The partner was a little puzzled. “Huh?” Without warning, the paddles of a defibrillator suddenly landed on his chest.

“Sorry, nothing personal.” Fan Meinan flipped the switch, and the security guard started going into a violent fit.

When Fan Meiman turned off the switch, the guard’s body dropped off the stool like a rock.

At the same time, Han Lu had also arrived on the floor where Wang Shuangshuang’s ward was located. The atmosphere on this floor hadn’t changed much since they left. The corridor was swarming with patients and their family members. A matron was scolding a young nurse loudly for apparently losing a patient’s medicine.

There were tears in the nurse’s eyes. She was giving an injection to a patient earlier, and when she turned around, a bottle of levofloxacin and a syringe had strangely gone missing. The head nurse was after her now, demanding for the poor junior to pay up for the missing items.

Han Lu walked towards them and asked, “How much is it? I will pay for it.”

The head nurse seemed a little surprised, “It’s not about the money. I want her to remember this lesson...”

“I don’t think she has done anything wrong. There are so many people in the hospital now; it is impossible to pay attention to every single person around you all the time.” Han Lu took out her purse and drew a thousand yuan from it. “Will this be enough?”

The nurse seemed was a little embarrassed. “No, no, no. I’m the one who lost the medicine. Let me pay for it. And according to the hospital’s regulations, we can’t take money from others.” “It’s okay; consider it a donation then. After you pay for the medication, you can give the rest of the money to those who need it.” Han Lu then put the money on the nurse’s desk. “Hey, let me ask you a question.”

“Sure, ask away. What is it?” Thanks to Han Lu’s timely interruption amid the argument, the nurse’s mood had improved a lot. She now felt that there were still many good people in this world.

“Have you been at the nurse’s desk recently? Have you seen any new visitors?”

“Uhh... new visitor. We have it in the registration system, but I am afraid I can’t show it to you,” the nurse apologized.

“Can’t you, perhaps, do something?” Han Lu asked. “You can ask me to register too, then pretend to let me take a quick peek of the records. You don’t have to take any responsibility.”

While the two were talking, the treatment room door opened, and a woman walked out of it.