With a bang, the door to the adjoining room was kicked open, the dilapidated wooden door quivering on its last legs.
The woman turned her head in a panic to look.
Seeing it was soone familiar, she imdiately plastered on a fawning smile and approached, "Supervisor Wei, you’ve arrived."
Her gaze flitted to the woman trailing behind Wei Lai, who kept her head lowered, appearing wooden and silent.
Wei Lai nodded slightly, glanced inside, and wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"How’s their condition?"
The woman pursed her lips, "Just barely hanging on by a thread. No one knows what they’re waiting for."
Wei Lai stepped forward to take a look.
On the bed lay an elderly couple, both skeletal and haggard, their faces ashen and bearing the unmistakable mark of death.
The old man lying closer to the wall had his eyes shut, utterly lifeless. The exposed skin on his neck bore a blotchy red scar, standing out starkly against his papery, wrinkled skin.
The old woman lying outside had a head full of gray hair, barely maintaining consciousness, frail beyond asure. Yet her sunken eyes were glazed with an unquenchable wrath, as though yearning to devour life whole.
A stale, rotting odor seeped from the bed, tickling the nose; it was like a vat of rancid pickled vegetables—remarkably sour and revolting.
Wei Lai held a hand to his nose, fanning it slightly, his tone unabashedly disdainful, "Lasting this long is basically a miracle."
The caretaker of the couple, Guo Cui, was forty-five, heavyset, and had a face full of coarse, blunt features. Her cheekbones jutted out unpleasantly, radiating a an-spirited deanor.
At Wei Lai’s words, Guo Cui quickly chid in, "These two decrepit geezers are an absolute pain. The lady of the house showed rcy and sent dicine over, but this old hag refuses to take it. Seems to she thinks she’s lived too long already..."
Wei Lai turned his head, looking toward Zhu Keke, who stood quietly at the door, her head bowed. She wasn’t curiously surveying the surroundings, but appeared calm and subdued.
Wei Lai seed satisfied, beckoning her with a gesture, "Keke, co here."
Shen You’an walked over.
She lifted her gaze briefly to glance at the elderly pair on the bed, then quickly lowered her eyes again. Behind her glasses, her expression was unperturbed.
"Examine them, give it your best effort. Let know what dicine you need. If you can’t, don’t strain yourself."
"Alright."
The elderly woman reached out her gaunt hand and shoved off a low stool filled with miscellaneous items at the bedside, sending it crashing into the ground. The stool rolled toward Zhu Keke’s feet, where it collided with a shattered porcelain bowl.
From the woman’s throat erged a harsh, wheezing voice, reminiscent of a broken bellows, "Get out... all of you, get out..."
Guo Cui rolled up her sleeves and started cursing, "You old wretch, see if I don’t beat you to death..."
Just as her palm was about to strike the elderly woman, a hand grasped Guo Cui’s thick wrist mid-air.
The fingers were slender, nails ticulously trimd clean, gleaming under the dim light like jade, casting an otherworldly luster in the dark room.
Guo Cui was montarily stunned. In that instant, the stranger released her grip, stepped forward, squatted down, and reached out to seize the elderly woman’s wrist.
The latter tried to struggle free, but the hand holding her was simultaneously gentle and firm, offering no chance of escape.
The old woman froze for a mont.
Shen You’an touched her pulse, her eyes darkening slightly.
Wei Lai, constantly watching Shen You’an’s expression, queried, "Keke, any diagnosis?"
The lady of the house was still awaiting a report.
Shen You’an shook her head but remained silent. She opened the dical kit she had brought along and took out a stethoscope. With delicate precision, she parted the old woman’s pitifully thin clothing and placed the stethoscope’s diaphragm against her chest, moving it lightly while concentrating intently.
Outside, the wind howled like a grim specter; the bone-chilling draft poured inside with no less ferocity through a shattered window.
Guo Cui shivered, glancing at Wei Lai, whose lips had turned pale from the cold. His hands were tucked in his sleeves, his attention fixated on Shen You’an’s every move.
She sidled closer, whispering, "Supervisor Wei, it’s freezing here. Co to my room for so warmth, and let Dr. Keke inform you when there’s an update."
Wei Lai, unable to bear the chill, went along with her suggestion without hesitation.
Judging by the state of these two elderly folks, it wouldn’t be long now. The lady’s goodwill was bound to be squandered in vain.
Guo Cui addressed Shen You’an, "Dr. Keke, my room is just next door. Co find there after you finish."
The other woman didn’t lift her head, engrossed in her examination.
Guo Cui led Wei Lai out of the room.
The neighboring room had windows sealed tightly, impervious to the faintest breeze. Not only that, but it was equipped with an electric heater; the mont one stepped inside, they were enveloped in a wave of warmth—polar opposite to the frigid mausoleum-like chamber next door.
Guo Cui poured a cup of hot water and handed it to Wei Lai, "Supervisor Wei, have so hot water to warm yourself up."
Wei Lai grasped the cup in both hands and, noticing the aged gri encircling its rim, pursed his lips.
"Supervisor Wei, those two won’t last much longer. Why does the lady of the house still insist on squandering dical resources to save them? Honestly, isn’t this like taking off one’s pants to..."
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