Chapter 196: Searching for Evidence

Frostleaf Hospital.

“Excuse me, we are working now, please leave here immediately. Also, our staff list and surgical schedules are confidential; you cannot… Hey! You can’t go there! Security! Where’s security?!”

Despite the doctors' attempts to stop him, Wen Shilin simply bent down and weaved through the crowd, as if completely deaf to their words, heading straight for the rooms in the distance.

The surrounding doctors and nurses were stunned. In all their years of work, they had never seen anyone forcefully enter an operating room. Several of them instantly changed their expressions and were about to step forward to block him when security guards rushed over from a distance.

“Quick! Stop them!” a doctor shouted, pointing at Wen Shilin.

Seeing this, the security guards were about to move when a figure in a brown overcoat reached out, blocking their path.

“Excuse me, everyone,” Chen Ling said with a smile, pulling out his press pass. “We’re just here to investigate a matter. Once we find what we’re looking for, we’ll naturally leave. We kindly ask for your cooperation.”

Upon seeing Chen Ling’s ID, several security guards’ expressions turned grim. They naturally knew the power such a document represented and hesitated to step forward and stop him.

“What is there to investigate in a hospital?!”

“That’s for you all to answer.”

A faint glimmer flashed deep within Chen Ling’s eyes as his gaze slowly swept over the crowd. “Some of you must know what we’re here to investigate... don’t you?”

As soon as he spoke, several faces in the crowd showed signs of fear, which Chen Ling’s 'secret eyes' fully captured. The others looked bewildered, seemingly unable to understand what Chen Ling was saying.

Chen Ling noted down each of those faces and their name tags. Just then, a line of small text appeared floating on the opposite tile:

Viewer Expectation 7Current Expectation: 34

Chen Ling’s eyes instantly narrowed.

Several days had passed since he entered Aurora City. During this time, there had been almost no significant increase in expectation values; even occasional small increases could barely offset the natural decline, preventing the audience from usurping his body.

The largest increase in expectation values had been during his confrontation with Jian Changsheng last night, but even then, it hadn't exceeded 5 points. Now, 7 points of viewer expectation had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, instantly tensing Chen Ling's heart.

An inexplicable rise in expectation values always meant trouble; this was a bloody lesson Chen Ling had learned.

Chen Ling’s brows furrowed instantly. He slowly scanned his surroundings but found no source of danger. He simply turned and walked towards Wen Shilin, who was searching for lists inside the room.

“How’s it going?” Chen Ling asked in a low voice.

“I found a few lists, but there were quite a few surgeries yesterday afternoon, so we need to narrow down the scope further,” Wen Shilin said, holding the lists and seemingly deep in thought. “What about your end?”

“I just probed them a bit; a few people reacted rather strangely.”

“Who?”

Chen Ling recited the names he had just noted down. Wen Shilin’s gaze swept over the lists, his eyes narrowing slightly as if contemplating something.

After a moment, he let out a soft chuckle:

“I knew something felt off... So that’s it.”

Wen Shilin put away the list and glanced at the people who had rushed over.

The security guards, wary of the press pass, dared not use force against them and could only stand helplessly outside. As for the doctors whose names Chen Ling had mentioned, their expressions noticeably relaxed when they saw that Wen Shilin had gained nothing but a list.

“Sirs, your presence here is affecting our ability to treat patients. For the sake of hospital order and respect for life, please leave.” The leading doctor, seeing that conventional methods couldn’t make the two leave, resorted to moral arguments to try and pressure them.

“That’s right, if this continues, patients will start to complain…”

“And there are several patients waiting for their surgeries.”

“Lives are at stake!”

Everyone spoke at once, and the scene quickly devolved into a noisy clamor. Seeing this, Wen Shilin let out a long sigh...

“Lin Yan, let’s go.”

“Leaving already?”

“We have what we need. Let’s go.” Wen Shilin gave Chen Ling a look.

Chen Ling immediately understood and nodded. “Alright.”

Under everyone’s gaze, the two simply walked out of the hospital and disappeared at the end of the street.

Seeing the two troublesome individuals gone, the crowd muttered a few words amongst themselves before returning to their posts. Several doctors, in particular, secretly exchanged glances, visibly relieved.

Meanwhile, outside the hospital.

Chen Ling glanced back at the hospital entrance, which was slowly receding from view, his expression subtle.

He now understood why Wen Shilin managed to offend so many people and was disliked everywhere he went. With this “search” method, it would be surprising if people *didn't* resent him. Chen Ling even worried that the next time Wen Shilin got beaten up and had to go to the hospital, these doctors would refuse to treat him... but on second thought, Wen Shilin probably couldn’t afford such an expensive private hospital anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.

“Do you know who it is now?” Chen Ling asked.

“Xin Youquan, Qiu Dong, Wang Yuning.”

“As expected.”

Chen Ling nodded, not surprised by the outcome. Two of the three individuals were doctors who had reacted strangely earlier. However, Chen Ling wasn’t sure how Wen Shilin had deduced the last person.

“Actually, we initially fell into a misconception, believing that by finding yesterday afternoon’s surgical records, we could pinpoint the individuals... But on second thought, it’s impossible for such a confidential surgery to leave any paper records. The people on the operating table probably weren’t even real ‘patients’ with medical conditions.” Wen Shilin began slowly.

“Given that, we should discard all invalid distracting information and approach the problem from a different angle... If they successfully completed the surgery, the organs could be quietly taken out in containers, but what about the bodies on the operating table?”

“Even if a normal surgery fails, the body on the operating table isn’t simply discarded. It would be impossible for them to immediately remove the body from the first floor under everyone’s watchful eyes. According to procedure, that body would inevitably be sent to a designated location to await family identification...”

“Are you saying, the morgue?” Chen Ling mused. “But a body with organs removed and not officially registered cannot be reasonably or compliantly sent to the morgue. So, the person responsible for the morgue yesterday must have been one of them?”

Wen Shilin gave Chen Ling an approving look. “Exactly, and that person is Wang Yuning.”