Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, Lao Mo, and Ye Qi almost simultaneously informed Xiao Lou of the deaths. With four people dead at once, Xiao Lou felt a splitting headache after hanging up the phone. He had only slept for a total of four hours last night. At this moment, it felt like there was an electric drill churning inside his head, his temples were throbbing, and his vision was blurry.
Yu Hanjiang noticed Xiao Lou's discomfort through the Telepathic Connection. He frowned, climbed out of the window, walked to Xiao Lou's side, gently pressed his shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, it's common for people to die in hospitals. It doesn't necessarily have to do with the case."
Xiao Lou snapped out of her daze and noticed that Yu Hanjiang had actually gotten out of bed. She asked worriedly, "Are you able to get out of bed and move around now?"
"Hmm, the wound is healing well. The head doctor also said during rounds this morning that you can move around a bit to avoid intestinal obstruction caused by prolonged bed rest." Yu Hanjiang endured the pain from the wound and said in a low voice, "Go check on a few wards, do a quick investigation into the cause of death first, and we'll investigate further if there are any suspicious points... I'm sorry to trouble you again today."
"It's nothing. It's just running errands, nothing to worry about." Xiao Lou smiled, stood up and said, "I'll go to the Pediatrics Department first. You can walk around the ward, but be careful not to move around too much or reopen your surgical wound."
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Yu Hanjiang gave Xiao Lou a reassuring look. After Xiao Lou left, he picked up his phone and called his colleagues at the police station, saying, "Immediately help me find a man named Liu Renyuan, male, 35 years old. I need his detailed social connections."
"Okay, Captain Yu." The young police officer's clear voice came from the other end of the phone.
Yu Hanjiang was forced to be hospitalized due to a gunshot wound, but as a Criminal Police Officer, he could contact the Police Station by phone. The information he was investigating in the " Cheng Shaoyu dismemberment case" was brought to him by his colleagues at the Police Station, and he had to make full use of the resources at his disposal.
Xiao Lou went to the Pediatrics Department first.
Little Ye Qi was hiding furtively behind the door. As soon as Xiao Lou entered the ward, Ye Qi hurriedly ran over.
Xiao Lou looked at Ye Qi, who only reached her thighs, and asked softly, "How are you?"
Ye Qi said nervously, "At 9:30 a.m., I had just come out of the bathroom when I saw a group of doctors rush into the next ward. The ward door was closed, and because I'm short, I couldn't see what was happening inside. I only saw Chen Yuqing's mother sitting at the door of the ward, crying. About ten minutes later, a doctor came out and said, 'I'm sorry, we've done our best.'"
The last thing a family member wants to hear in a hospital is, "I'm sorry, we've done our best."
The doctor's statement clearly indicated that Chen Yuqing was dead, which explains why Ye Qi was in such a hurry to notify Xiao Lou.
Xiao Lou asked in confusion, " Chen Yuqing was perfectly fine when I had her consultation yesterday, how could this happen so suddenly?"
Ye Qi's eyes showed obvious guilt: "I don't know exactly what happened. Sigh, it's so inconvenient to be a child. Nurse wouldn't let me run around. He just carried me back to the ward. I sneaked out to wait for you while Dr. Nurse wasn't around."
Xiao Lou nodded: "You go back first, I'll investigate."
He still remembered the 7-year-old girl he met yesterday. She was pale, thin, and had a lovely smile. When the consultation ended, she politely said, "Thank you, Uncle." At the time of the consultation, the patient's condition was relatively stable. Because Chen Yuqing had congenital gallstones, Xiao Lou also helped her schedule surgery for the following morning.
Xiao Lou turned and went to bed number 18.
Chen Yuqing was dead, her skin as pale as paper. Her mother was sobbing softly beside her. The attending physician was a capable woman in her thirties with a neat ponytail. Xiao Lou had met her briefly during the consultation yesterday and remembered her name—Lin Ting.
At this moment, Lin Ting looked somewhat disappointed, holding the medical record, standing by the bed with a solemn expression.
Xiao Lou walked over and asked in a low voice, "Dr. Lin, what happened? He was fine yesterday morning."
Lin Ting sighed softly and said, "We originally planned to send her to the operating room this morning, but unexpectedly, Yuqing suffered a sudden heart attack before being put under anesthesia. We did our best to save her, but unfortunately, her heartbeat has not been restored."
Xiao Lou paused, then said, "When she came for the consultation yesterday, I carefully reviewed her medical records. Didn't she have congenital gallstones? She has no history of heart disease, so how could she have a sudden heart attack?"
Lin Ting glanced at Little Girl's mother with a complicated expression, and whispered in Xiao Lou's ear, "I suspect that the family members concealed the illness."
Xiao Lou: "..."
Concealing one's illness is a common occurrence in clinical practice.
For example, a female classmate who studied obstetrics and gynecology once mentioned this in the group chat—
Fearing the hospital wouldn't perform the surgery, the family concealed the fact that the pregnant woman had a history of coronary heart disease. The pregnant woman's electrocardiogram and echocardiogram showed normal results. However, many cases of coronary heart disease cannot be detected by echocardiograms or electrocardiograms; a specialized coronary CT scan is required to detect narrowed blood vessels. Pregnant women cannot undergo CT scans due to radiation exposure. The doctors believed the family and took the pregnant woman to the operating room. Tragically, during the cesarean section, the pregnant woman suffered a sudden heart attack and died despite resuscitation efforts, along with her unborn child.
The alumni group had a heated discussion about this matter. Xiao Lou saw that many clinicians had encountered family members or patients who concealed their medical history, especially sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, which were the most serious cases of concealment.
At the time, someone joked with Xiao Lou, saying, "It's still more comfortable to be a Forensic Doctor than to be a dead doctor. "
When dealing with people, you don't need to worry about the dead lying; it's the living who are truly terrifying. The human heart is just too complex.
Thinking of all this, Xiao Lou couldn't help but sigh and look at Lin Ting: "Don't blame yourself too much, you've already done your best."
Lin Ting was silent for a moment before saying softly, "Yuqing gave me a handmade greeting card yesterday. This little girl is so obedient and sensible... It's such a pity. If her heart disease had been discovered earlier and she had been transferred to the Cardiovascular Surgery Department for surgery, maybe she could have been saved..."
Xiao Lou asked in confusion, "When I came for the consultation yesterday, her mother was with her. Where is her father?"
Lin Ting said, "Yu Qing has been staying in our Pediatrics Department for half a month and has never seen her father. I asked her mother, but she wouldn't say anything. It involves privacy, so I didn't press her further."
Chen Yuqing's mother seemed to have calmed down. She choked back tears as she wiped them away. She covered her daughter's body with a white sheet and came over, saying, "Dr. Lin, my family lives out of town, and I need to go back to arrange my daughter's funeral, which may take one or two days. Could you keep her body at your hospital for now?"
Lin Ting nodded and said, "We can temporarily leave it at the Hospital's Morgue until you come and claim it."
She said thank you, then turned and left looking dejected. Xiao Lou suddenly spoke up, "Ms. Chen, has your daughter had any heart-related examinations before?"
The woman paused, then turned around and asked, "What do you mean?"
Xiao Lou said, "Yu Qing's cause of death was a sudden heart attack. Did you know that she had a history of heart disease?"
The woman's face turned pale, and she shook her head, saying, "I don't know."
She left in a hurry after she finished speaking. Xiao Lou noticed that her eyes were darting around, and she was definitely hiding something. However, the specific situation still needed to be carefully verified. Her daughter had just died, and it was not good to upset this mother now.
Xiao Lou obtained Qu Wanyue's contact information from the doctor before turning around and going to the Rheumatology and Immunology Department to find her.
It was inconvenient to investigate Ye Qi because of the child, but Qu Wanyue had already found out the whole story before Xiao Lou arrived. Upon seeing Xiao Lou, she immediately walked over and whispered in his ear, "The deceased was a 28-year-old woman who was hospitalized for lupus erythematosus. I heard that she also had lupus nephritis. I noticed that she was not in good spirits yesterday, and she passed away this morning from acute renal failure."
Xiao Lou asked, "Have her family members come?"
Qu Wanyue said, "Her parents came to see her yesterday afternoon. They were visiting her when she fell ill this morning. The doctors did their best to save her. Her family members were quite calm when they received the death notice. They didn't cry or make a scene, but just shed tears silently. It must be because her illness was very difficult to treat, and her family had already prepared themselves mentally."
Lupus is an autoimmune disease. Xiao Lou doesn't know much about it, only that the disease progresses slowly and has a good prognosis if it is well controlled, but it becomes very difficult to manage once complications involving multiple organs and systems throughout the body occur.
Ultimately, there are no specific drugs for autoimmune diseases; they can only be controlled by stimulating the body's own immune system. Once the immune system collapses, even a miracle can be difficult to cure. Based on Qu Wanyue's description, the young woman who died in the Rheumatology and Immunology Department was not closely related to the case they were investigating.
After writing down the deceased's name, Xiao Lou gave Qu Wanyue a few words of advice and then turned to leave.
In the endocrinology department where Lao Mo works, the deceased was an 80-year-old woman whose cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis. There was no problem with the patient's cause of death. It is difficult for an 80-year-old woman to be associated with organ smuggling.
Xiao Lou took the opportunity to visit Old Mo. He had just undergone surgery yesterday, and his spirits were much better today. Although his wrinkled and aged appearance was heartbreaking, Old Mo's eyes at least had a sparkle, and he had fully accepted the fact that he was getting old.
Xiao Lou advised him to rest in bed for the time being.
The last stop was the orthopedic surgery department. Long Sen was waiting for Xiao Lou in a wheelchair in the corridor. After Xiao Lou arrived at the ward, he pushed the wheelchair over and whispered to Xiao Lou, "The deceased was a 35-year-old young man named Qi Zhaoming. He was taken for surgery yesterday afternoon, fell into a coma after the operation, and was sent to the ICU. He passed away this morning. His family has been unable to contact him, so the doctor had the body sent to Morgue."
Xiao Lou was taken aback: "The body was taken to Morgue? None of the family members came?"
Long Sen scratched his head and said, "I just asked his roommate, and he said that since Qi Zhaoming was admitted to the hospital, not a single family member has come to visit him. He even signed the surgical consent forms himself. He died this morning, and we can't contact his family. It's so pitiful."
The fact that no family members could claim the deceased's body and that it had to be temporarily sent to Morgue aroused Xiao Lou's suspicions.
After noting down the deceased's name, Xiao Lou turned and returned to the ward.
Yu Hanjiang got out of bed and was sitting on the sofa looking at documents. Seeing Xiao Lou enter, he asked in a low voice, "What conclusions have you reached?"
Xiao Lou sat down on the sofa, picked up a glass of water and took several sips. The dryness in his throat lessened considerably. He then said, "The 80-year-old woman in Lao Mo's ward died of diabetic ketoacidosis; the young woman in Qu Wanyue's ward had advanced lupus and died of kidney failure due to multiple organ damage. These two patients are likely confounding cases and can be ruled out. The remaining two require a careful review of their medical records."
He paused, then said, " Little Girl's heart attack was sudden, and the doctors were caught off guard. It shouldn't be related to the hospital. Her mother is somewhat suspicious and may have concealed her medical history. As for the orthopedic patient, no family member has claimed the body… The bodies of both of them have been sent to Morgue."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou gently: "Fortunately, you're a medical professional and understand these common diseases, so you can quickly eliminate interfering factors."
Xiao Lou smiled helplessly: "If I weren't a medical professional, Guardian wouldn't have assigned us this hospital copy."
However, I'd rather the Guardian present me with a Morgue full of corpses and let me dissect them one by one; that's my profession.
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
A room full of corpses must be psychologically unsettling for the teammates.
Xiao Lou noticed a stack of documents in Yu Hanjiang's hand and curiously glanced at them, asking, "What are these documents of yours?"
" This is Liu Renyuan's information, brought by my colleagues at the Police Station." Yu Hanjiang was pleased with his colleagues' efficiency. He handed the information to Xiao Lou and explained, " The suspicious body you found in Morgue, Liu Renyuan, was a security guard at Jincui Residential Complex. I had my colleagues check the complex where he worked. His parents were deceased, he was unmarried, and we couldn't find any relatives. According to the security guards at the complex, he liked to smoke and drink, and he was rather withdrawn, so he didn't have many friends."
"..." Xiao Lou was stunned for a moment. "No relatives, no friends, so we have no way to find out about his past through social connections? By the way, the person who died in the orthopedics department just now, his body was also unclaimed by any relatives."
A thought sent a chill down Xiao Lou's spine: "Could it be that the perpetrator specifically targets patients without relatives? Even if such people die accidentally, no one will investigate the cause of death?!"
When a relative dies, the family will definitely ask the doctor to find out the cause of death. If you encounter some difficult family members, there might even be banners hanging at the hospital entrance the next day.
However, for patients without relatives who die during surgery, their bodies can only be kept in the Morgue for a few days before being cremated, or taken to a medical school to be used as material for students studying human anatomy...
How did he die? No one investigated.
It went unnoticed by gods and ghosts.
Yu Hanjiang also considered this possibility, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "What's more, the Jin Cui residential area where security guard Liu Renyuan works is the same upscale villa community where suspect Cheng Shaofeng lives. I was shot there when I went to investigate the case."
The victim in the dismemberment case is Cheng Shaoyu, a wealthy second-generation heir; the suspect is his missing younger brother, Cheng Shaofeng; Liu Renyuan, a suspicious victim discovered in Morgue; Qi Zhaoming, a suspicious victim in the orthopedic department this morning; and Little Girl from the Pediatrics Department. Chen Yuqing ...
What connects these people?
What's even more troubling is that Cheng Shaoyu's body hasn't been fully recovered, Cheng Shaofeng is missing, and there are no relatives of the two deceased, Liu Renyuan and Qi Zhaoming, to whom we can investigate!
Without testimonies from relatives and friends, it's impossible to know who they offended or what they went through.
All they left behind were two corpses lying in Morgue.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and looked at Yu Hanjiang, saying, "I'm going to Morgue again tonight to autopsy the bodies of two suspicious victims. I believe the dead don't lie—they will definitely tell me the truth."