The emergency room slowly returned to silence.
Song Jiaojiao lay still, her breath steady, her vitals stable. The staff stood frozen, staring at the monitors like they'd just witnessed the impossible. Because they had.
Chen Wanli removed his hands from her body, the faint bluish glow receding back into his skin like mist evaporating at dawn. Beads of sweat clung to his brow, but his expression remained calm—composed, even regal.
Behind him, the doors burst open.
Director Zhang stormed in, flanked by security guards. "Arrest him! That man tampered with a patient—this is criminal trespass!"
A nurse stepped between them, voice trembling but firm. "Director… she was gone. Dead. No heartbeat. No pulse. I ran the tests myself. And now\... she's alive."
Zhang faltered.
"She's not just alive," the attending physician added, adjusting his glasses. "She's stabilized. No neurological damage, no oxygen deprivation. That's not medicine. That's a miracle."
The guards hesitated, unsure.
Zhang gritted his teeth. "You've all lost your minds! He's not even certified—he's a quack!"
Chen Wanli raised an eyebrow. "Then go ahead. Report me. Tell the world that your top hospital declared a woman dead, bagged her body, and sent her to the morgue—only for a 'quack' to bring her back to life."
Zhang's face turned a dangerous shade of red. "You think you can blackmail me?"
"I don't need to." Chen stepped closer, his voice lowering. "You're already choking on the truth."
Silence.
For a long moment, no one moved. Then, a soft voice broke the tension.
"Where… am I?"
Everyone turned. Song Jiaojiao's eyes fluttered open, her pupils dazed and confused, like someone waking from a dream they hadn't meant to leave.
The nurse gasped. "She's conscious."
Tang Yanan rushed forward. "Miss Song, you were brought here after a car accident. You—You flatlined. But… you're okay now. Thanks to—"
Her voice caught as she turned toward her husband.
Chen didn't speak. He was already heading for the door.
"Wait." Song's voice came again—hoarse, barely audible, but unmistakably clear. "That man… he called to me. In the dark."
The room went still.
She turned her eyes toward Chen, her gaze sharp with something more than gratitude. "Who… are you?"
He paused in the doorway, the faint outline of a smirk on his lips.
"No one important," he said. "Not yet."
And with that, he walked out.
---
Elsewhere, in a shadowed study across the city…
A phone rang.
A middle-aged man in a tailored suit picked up, his fingers twitching at the name on the screen: **Song Enterprises - Medical Division.**
"What is it?" he asked.
"Sir…" came the voice on the other end, shaken. "She's alive. Song Jiaojiao is… alive."
The man stood slowly, eyes narrowing.
"That's impossible."