Chapter 31: Freezing to Death in Summer

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Freezing to Death in Summer

The lunch break was short, and since Jiang Xiyan had already caused a significant delay, Wang Chunyuan had to take Yu Zhiming to the hospital’s staff cafeteria to make do.

The cafeteria offered a wide variety of dishes that looked both nutritious and appetizing, but the actual taste was rather disappointing.

In addition to the taste, the sweet and bland seasonings were something Yu Zhiming wasn’t quite used to.

’Food shouldn’t be wasted.’

Yu Zhiming did his best to eat the food on his tray, and while he did, he learned quite a bit from Dr. Wang Chunyuan.

For instance, the lung flukes in Vice Dean Yuan’s body weren’t considered a severe case, but one or two months of antiparasitic treatment were still necessary.

Vice Dean Yuan would probably have to recuperate for a while.

For another example, Dr. Qi’s love life was extraordinarily rich.

Besides his current partner, a beautiful model, he had three ex-wives and several children.

Rumor had it he had several female confidantes as well.

"Um, Dr. Yu... a rumor is already making the rounds in the hospital, saying you’re his illegitimate son that he left behind in Lu Province."

Yu Zhiming was thoroughly disgusted.

"How could such an irresponsible rumor even start?"

Wang Chunyuan gave a wry smile. "Director Qi has always given off the impression that he does whatever he wants, so he’s used to being the subject of controversy."

"He’s been incredibly protective of you, even threatening to resign to force the hospital to make an exception and hire you."

Wang Chunyuan looked at Yu Zhiming and sighed. "Zhiming, if I hadn’t gotten to know you over the past couple of days, I would’ve believed that rumor without a shred of doubt."

"Now I understand. Director Qi is defending you so strongly purely out of his appreciation for your talent."

Wang Chunyuan lamented, "If I ever met a medical prodigy as talented and gifted as you, I’d also do everything in my power to take them under my wing..."

After their brief lunch, Wang Chunyuan had to go see patients with prior appointments, so he left first.

Yu Zhiming hadn’t expected his physical to end so quickly. His appointment with Teacher Qi last night was set for four in the afternoon.

With time on his hands, Yu Zhiming began to wander around the hospital.

In truth, he was just strolling about aimlessly.

Huashan Hospital had over three thousand employees, forty to fifty departments and medical research centers of varying sizes, and more than two thousand beds. It also had thirty to forty different buildings, both tall and short.

Add to that the numerous ground-level parking areas, small plazas, and little gardens for patients to rest and move around in, and the total campus area was truly vast.

Yu Zhiming made a quick calculation. ’If not eighty or a hundred acres, it must be at least fifty or sixty.’

It was at least three or four times larger than the county hospital where he used to work.

But what bothered Yu Zhiming the most was the noise level, which was easily five or six times louder than the county hospital.

The urgent sirens of ambulances coming and going never seemed to cease.

From the buildings he passed, Yu Zhiming would occasionally hear loud wails or agonized groans.

’This is going to be a long and painful adjustment.’

Yu Zhiming rubbed his temples hard to relieve his throbbing headache.

Just as he was taking a pair of noise-canceling earplugs from his pocket to put them in, his phone suddenly rang.

It was a local Binhai landline number.

Yu Zhiming answered the call.

"Hello sir, this is Officer Jin Feng from the Binhai Nanjiang District Xinyuan Street Police Station."

"Is this a good time to talk?"

Yu Zhiming replied softly, "Yes, go ahead."

"Sir, I need to verify something with you first. Did you place an emergency call at eleven o’clock last night?"

Yu Zhiming confirmed that he had, then asked worriedly, "Is something wrong?"

"Officer, I was just being cautious, just in case. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble."

The person on the other end of the line chuckled. "Don’t worry, sir. We welcome calls and reports from citizens."

"In fact, thanks to your call last night, we were able to successfully apprehend a criminal."

"Sir, this is the situation..."

The officer explained, "After interrogating him through the night, we discovered he was using secretly-filmed, private photos to blackmail and extort a number of people."

"The police are now gathering more evidence of his crimes, as well as information about his victims."

"Sir, if you were ever blackmailed or extorted by him..."

Yu Zhiming cut him off, "No, I’ve never been blackmailed by him. I’m just an ordinary person here in Binhai on business."

"I just happened to notice his suspicious behavior."

"To be honest, when I saw him lying there filming secretly, my first thought was that he was some kind of spy or an assassin planning a hit."

"That’s why I panicked and called the police. Afterwards, I was worried you’d think it was a prank call."

The officer on the phone chuckled. "It always pays to be vigilant. We take every emergency call seriously."

Then, his tone grew serious. "Sir, I assure you that all calls are kept confidential."

"We also ensure the confidentiality of every victim..."

Yu Zhiming explained again, "Officer, I’m really not a victim..."

After hanging up with the police officer, Yu Zhiming realized he had unconsciously wandered into a parking area.

Glancing at the surrounding vehicles, he saw they were all BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis, and Cayennes.

’Big cities really are different. Nothing but nice cars.’

Yu Zhiming sighed in admiration and started to walk away.

He had only taken two steps before he abruptly stopped.

A strange, crackling sound of an electrical discharge assaulted Yu Zhiming’s ears.

It was a type of harsh, grating noise that he particularly disliked.

Yu Zhiming turned his head toward the sound and saw a hybrid Cayenne, the same model Teacher Qi had been driving the previous night.

He pulled a small, palm-sized notepad and a pen from his shirt pocket.

As a young doctor still in the learning phase of his career, Yu Zhiming had developed the habit of always carrying a notepad and pen.

He wrote on a piece of paper from the pad.

"I can hear a crackling electrical discharge from your car."

To be honest, Yu Zhiming’s handwriting was rather ugly, about on par with that of a delinquent middle schooler.

He hadn’t really started writing properly until he was fourteen or fifteen, and his heavy course load left him no time to practice his penmanship.

By the time he wanted to practice, his bad habits were already set in stone.

These days, only his signature could be considered presentable, written with a flamboyant flair...

Finally, Yu Zhiming placed the note on the Cayenne’s front windshield and used a wiper blade to hold it in place.

Just then, his phone rang again.

Yu Zhiming took out his phone and saw, to his surprise, a video call from his nephew, Fu Xiaobo.

This struck him as odd.

His nephew was only two years younger than him. They had grown up together and were quite close.

But now, one was working in interior renovation with his father in the provincial capital while the other was a doctor, so they didn’t get in touch very often.

Yu Zhiming answered the video call and immediately heard Fu Xiaobo’s urgent, panicked voice.

"Uncle, Uncle, something’s happened! This guy’s gone cold and I can barely feel a heartbeat! Quick, take a look and tell me what’s wrong!"

Through the shaky video feed, Yu Zhiming could see a man curled up on a piece of cardboard.

"Stop shaking the phone!" Yu Zhiming yelled.

The camera’s view quickly stabilized.

Yu Zhiming saw that the man’s face was slightly blue, his lips were purple and trembling, and his hands were curled up like claws, shaking uncontrollably.

"What happened?"

Yu Zhiming asked, then added in a serious tone, "Xiaobo, don’t panic. Take a few deep breaths, then tell me what happened, slowly."

A moment later, Fu Xiaobo’s much calmer voice came through the phone again.

"Uncle, he and I were doing heavy labor this morning. We moved a lot of renovation materials up to a room on the fifth floor."

"After lunch, we took a break."

"Liu San cranked the AC way down. I thought it was too cold, so I went to another room to rest."

Hearing this, Yu Zhiming immediately cut in, "What was the AC set to?"

"Eighteen degrees!"

"Xiaobo, go feel his undershirt. Is it wet?"

As Yu Zhiming said this, the camera view shook again.

Fu Xiaobo’s voice came through again.

"Uncle, his clothes are soaked."

Yu Zhiming said in a loud, clear voice, "He probably has hypothermia. In other words, he’s freezing to death."

He then ordered, "Get his wet clothes off him immediately, move him to another room, and let him warm up slowly."

"Did you call 911?"

"We already did, Uncle."

Yu Zhiming grunted in acknowledgment. "Okay, Xiaobo. Do what I said, quickly, and then just wait for the ambulance to arrive."

After ending the video call with Fu Xiaobo, Yu Zhiming found the situation rather peculiar.

’Getting hypothermia and nearly freezing to death in the middle of summer... that’s really something else.’

Hypothermia occurs when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it, causing the core body temperature to drop and leading to symptoms like shivering, confusion, and eventually, cardiopulmonary failure.

When the core body temperature drops to between 30 and 33 degrees Celsius, the internal organs begin to suffer damage, which can have fatal consequences.

Although it was summer, this Liu San that Fu Xiaobo spoke of was wearing sweat-drenched clothes while being blasted by cool, eighteen-degree air, which would cause his body to lose heat with alarming speed.

Under those circumstances, it was perfectly logical that he would develop hypothermia...