Ninth in The World - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Di Jiu had overestimated his purchasing power . He wandered near the hospital for hours before he realized that his mediocre savings were insufficient for him to afford a place that suited his taste or training routine . He could not even afford to rent a single room .

After wandering around the neighborhood for a bit, Di Jiu grabbed a quick meal and returned to the hospital .

Di Jiu worked at the basement of Block 11, so he wanted to find accomodation nearby .

When he entered the basement, he finally understood how much Tong Mu had helped him . The basement did not need anyone to be on guard duty or watch it in any way .

The only reason for someone to guard the place was the nursery located outside the morgue . However, the nursery was empty and its door was locked . When Di Jiu opened the door with his key, it became obvious that the room had been vacant for a long time .

The room was over 10 square feet, so it was quite spacious . Inside was a bed with a wire frame, a desk and a chair . Apart from this furniture, it was completely empty .

Di Jiu was satisfied with the room, as it was sufficiently quiet . If one ignored the sound coming from the ventilation vents, the surrounding area was completely silent .

For most people, the mere sight of the word ‘mortuary’ would send some prickles down their spine . However, Di Jiu had never been bothered by it . He had no reason to be afraid, especially as he had been full of Essence Energy ever since his martial arts practice .

After cleaning up the area quickly, Di Jiu began to practise the Major Conduit Internal Records . Even though he had the key to the mortuary, he did not plan on entering it .

Before Di Jiu could even start practising, he heard the sound of hasty footsteps outside . The footsteps betrayed the fear and panic of the person in the corridor .

Who would come to the morgue at such a late hour?

Di Jiu stepped out of the nursery immediately . He was relieved to find out that the sound of the footsteps was not coming from the morgue .

A silhouette soon appeared under the lights . Di Jiu saw clearly the middle-aged doctor he had met in the afternoon . The doctor, who was the one who had given him directions, had later been accused of medical malpractice by the family of a deceased girl .

The doctor should have been battered after what had happened in the afternoon, so it was strange that he had come to visit the morgue so late .

“Hi!” Di Jiu called out to avoid startling the doctor .

The middle-aged man was obviously nervous . Di Jiu’s call startled the doctor, who took a few steps back and glanced at him in panic .

Di Jiu stepped forward as he chuckled . “Don’t you remember me? You gave me directions this afternoon . I thought doctors were supposed to be braver than most people . ”

“It’s you!” When the doctor finally saw Di Jiu clearly, he heaved a sigh of relief . “What are you doing here?” he asked .

“Director Yu Jianfu recommended me for a position here, but a new director was appointed, so the Human Resources Department had no choice but to send me here,” Di Jiu answered .

The middle-aged doctor clearly understood the internal arrangements of the hospital personnel . When he heard Di Jiu’s reply, he sighed and said, “That is unfortunate . If you had arrived a few days earlier, you might have been sent to a better place . The truth is, the director must have helped to get you sent here, as there was no one working here previously . ”

“I know . What are you doing here so late?” Di Jiu asked . His eyes landed on the plastic bags that the doctor was carrying .

The middle-aged man raised the plastic bags as he said impatiently, “Well, I made a medical mistake this afternoon that resulted in the death of a patient who would not have died otherwise . There is no hope of resolving this, so I reckoned that I’d be asked to leave the Ai Bo Hospital soon . I came here tonight to burn some incense for my patient . This is a tradition of the hospital . Doctors burn some incense for patients who die during a surgery, regardless of the reason they passed . ”

“How do you know that the patient died due to negligence?” Di Jiu asked, secretly admiring the doctor’s integrity . In most cases, doctors who engaged in medical malpractice that resulted in death would not admit to it, even if they had made a mistake .

However, the middle-aged doctor had chosen to take responsibility for his wrong decisions .

“The patient had turned blue and started twitching, so I should not have injected her with a drug that would increase her heart rate . The drug caused too much stress on her heart, which resulted in…” The doctor’s eyes were full of chagrin and his tone was remorseful .

Di Jiu, who knew nothing about this pulse-quickening drug, asked, “Do you intend to burn the incense here?”

The middle-aged man looked at Di Jiu apologetically before he said, “I am Ling Bo and I am a former heart surgeon . If you have the key, could I trouble you into helping me open the door so I can burn some incense inside?”

Ling Bo had originally planned on burning some incense outside and leaving . However, after meeting Di Jiu, he had decided that he wanted to burn the incense inside the morgue instead . An uneasiness lingered in his heart, as he felt responsible for the patient’s death . His guilt had prevented him from fighting back when the patient’s family had shouted abuse at him .

The hospital’s policy forbade the burning of incense inside the mortuary, but no one would know if he burned it inside .

“No problem,” Di Jiu said as he took out the key to the morgue . He had not planned on taking this job seriously anyway, so if this was where Ling Bo wanted to burn the incense, Di Jiu would try to accommodate him .

Although the mortuary spanned a wide area, there were not many bodies inside . The bodies that would be stored for an extended period of time were frozen, while those kept for a short period of time were placed in the spacious hall .

Despite the warm weather, Di Jiu felt a chill ran down his spine when he stepped into the mortuary . This was not merely due to the air conditioning . There was also strong Yin Qi in there .

As soon as he entered the mortuary, Ling Bo immediately walked towards a corpse in the furthest corner . He kneeled on the floor and took the incense out of his plastic bags .

Di Jiu’s eyes landed on the corpse, which was covered with a white cloth . He could tell from its long hair that it had been a woman .

Di Jiu saw Lin Bo kneel on the floor with a lighter in his hands and mutter something inaudible . Di Jiu was about to leave, when his eyes caught a glimpse of the deceased woman’s fingers .

Despite the dim lights in the morgue, Di Jiu’s acute eyesight allowed him to notice that the color of her fingers was that of a living person’s .

“Doctor Lin, please wait…” Di Jiu stepped forward and removed the white cloth covering the deceased woman’s body .

“What are you doing?” Lin Bo looked horrified as he hurried to stop Di Jiu from removing the cloth .

“She is not completely dead . If I intervene now, she might get a chance to live,” Di Jiu said solemnly . He was sure about this the moment that he removed the white cloth .

Di Jiu’s sensory and visual abilities had heightened considerably every since he had started practising the Major Conduit Internal Records . The lady might appear to be dead, but she still had some life in her . Those signs of life were metaphysical, so most doctors were not able to sense them, unless they had been practising medicine for a long time .

Despite his medical skills, Di Jiu had not been able to correctly sense those signs of life during his time in the Ji Nation . This had been due to his lack of experience and practise at the time . After practising the Major Conduit Internal Records, his ability to sense metaphysical things had been deeply ingrained in his senses .

“Did you say that she is alive?” Lin Bo looked agitated . His trembling voice and jerking body betrayed the tremendous wave of emotions that had washed over him .