Frostleaf Hospital.
"I'm sorry, but we're currently working. Please leave immediately. Our personnel list and surgical schedules are confidential—you can't... Hey! You can't go there! Security!! Where's security?!"
Amidst the doctors' attempts to block them, Wen Shilin simply bent down, slipped through the crowd as if deaf to their protests, and strode straight toward several rooms in the distance.
The surrounding doctors and nurses were dumbfounded. In all their years of work, they had never seen anyone forcibly barge into an operating room. A few of them paled and immediately moved to intercept, but security guards hurried over from afar.
"Quick! Stop them!" a doctor shouted, pointing at Wen Shilin.
The guards were about to act when a figure in a brown overcoat stepped forward, blocking their path with an outstretched hand.
"Sorry, everyone." Chen Ling flashed his press pass with a smile. "We're just here to investigate something. Once we find what we need, we'll leave. Please cooperate."
Seeing the press pass, the guards' expressions darkened. They knew exactly what kind of authority it represented, and for a moment, none dared to step forward.
"What is there to investigate in a hospital?!"
A faint glimmer passed through Chen Ling's eyes as he slowly scanned the crowd. "Some of you must know what we're here for... don't you?"
The moment these words were spoken, a few faces in the crowd flickered with panic—all captured by Chen Ling's [Secret Eyes]. The others just looked confused, as if they had no idea what Chen Ling was talking about.
Chen Ling mentally noted those faces and the name tags on their chests. Just then, a line of small text floated up from the tiles on the opposite wall:
[Audience Expectation +7]
[Current Expectation: 34%]
Chen Ling's pupils contracted instantly.
Several days had passed since he entered Aurora City, and during this time, there had been almost no significant spikes in expectation value. Even the occasional minor increases could barely offset the natural decline, ensuring he wouldn't lose control of his body to the audience.
The largest increase had been during his fight with Jian Changsheng the previous night, but even then, it hadn't exceeded 5. Now, a sudden jump of 7 points sent Chen Ling's heart racing!
Unexplained surges in expectation value never boded well—this was a lesson Chen Ling had learned the hard way.
His brow furrowed tightly as he scanned his surroundings, but he found no immediate source of danger. Without hesitation, he turned and walked toward Wen Shilin, who was searching through documents inside the room.
"Any progress?" Chen Ling asked in a low voice.
"Found a few lists, but there were quite a few surgeries yesterday afternoon. We need to narrow it down further." Wen Shilin held several sheets of paper, seemingly deep in thought. "What about you?"
"I tested them just now. A few people reacted strangely."
"Who?"
Chen Ling listed the names he had memorized. Wen Shilin's eyes swept over the documents, narrowing slightly as if deep in thought.
After a long pause, he chuckled softly.
"I felt like something was missing... Now I get it."
Wen Shilin pocketed the list and glanced at the crowd rushing toward them.
The security guards, wary of the press pass, didn't dare use force and could only stand helplessly outside. As for the doctors whose names Chen Ling had mentioned, their expressions visibly relaxed when they saw Wen Shilin had only taken a list and found nothing else.
"Gentlemen, your presence here disrupts our ability to treat patients. Out of respect for hospital order and human life, please leave." The lead doctor, seeing conventional methods had failed, resorted to moral appeals to pressure them out.
"That's right. If this continues, patients will start complaining..."
"There are several surgery patients waiting."
"Lives are at stake here!"
"..."
The crowd buzzed with overlapping voices, quickly dissolving into chaos. Wen Shilin sighed heavily.
"Lin Yan, let's go."
"Just like that?"
"We've got enough. Let's go." Wen Shilin gave Chen Ling a meaningful look.
Chen Ling immediately understood and nodded. "Alright."
Under the crowd's watchful eyes, the two walked straight out of the hospital and disappeared down the street.
Once the troublesome duo was gone, the group muttered a few complaints under their breaths before returning to their posts. A few doctors exchanged discreet glances, quietly letting out sighs of relief.
Meanwhile, outside the hospital.
Chen Ling glanced back at the receding hospital entrance, his expression unreadable.
Now he understood why Wen Shilin had managed to offend so many people and was unwelcome wherever he went... With this kind of "search" method, it'd be strange if people didn't hold a grudge against him. Chen Ling half-expected that the next time Wen Shilin got beaten up and went to the hospital, these doctors would refuse to treat him... Though on second thought, Wen Shilin probably couldn't afford this expensive private hospital anyway. Not a real issue.
"You already know who it is?" Chen Ling asked.
"Xin Youquan, Qiu Dong, Wang Yuning."
"Figures."
Chen Ling nodded, unsurprised by the result. Two of the three were among the doctors who had reacted suspiciously earlier, though he wasn't sure how Wen Shilin had deduced the third name.
"Actually, we both fell into the same trap at first—thinking that just finding yesterday afternoon's surgical records would lead us to the culprit... But think about it: a secret operation like this wouldn't leave any paper trail. The 'patient' on the operating table probably wasn't even a registered case." Wen Shilin explained slowly.
"Given that, we should discard all irrelevant information and approach this from another angle... If they successfully completed the surgery, the organs could be discreetly smuggled out in containers. But what about the body on the table?"
"Even in a failed surgery, the body wouldn't just be casually discarded. They couldn't have carried it out under everyone's noses on the first floor. By protocol, the body would have to be sent to a centralized location, awaiting family identification..."
"You mean the morgue?" Chen Ling mused. "But a hollowed-out, unregistered corpse couldn't be legally sent there. So the person in charge of the morgue yesterday must have been one of them?"
Wen Shilin gave Chen Ling an approving look. "Exactly. And that person... was Wang Yuning."