The Inpatient Department was silent in the dead of night.
To avoid disturbing the patients' sleep, the corridor lights had been dimmed until they were nearly dark.
Bzz, bzz, bzz~
The phone Lu Bai had deliberately set to silent suddenly began to vibrate.
Lying in his hospital bed, he picked it up and glanced at the screen.
Xu Qiang was calling. He swiped the green answer button with his thumb.
"I've looked into everything. The online rumors about you really did first come from the Mayor's Office."
Xu Qiang's voice on the other end of the line sounded grave. "I'm starting to seriously doubt Mayor Shi's identity."
"Only now you believe me? So you were just brushing me off earlier?" Lu Bai teased.
Unfortunately, Xu Qiang wasn't in the mood to joke around. His tone remained grave. "I'll keep looking into this. For now, lie low and don't let the rumors online get to you."
"I take it you didn't call just to show your concern?"
"Yeah. I'm planning to move the plan up. I'll hold a press conference first thing tomorrow morning."
Lu Bai knew exactly what plan Xu Qiang meant.
In fact, it was something they had agreed on together.
After all, confronting the mayor outright during the lecture wouldn't guarantee that he'd prove himself on the spot.
So they needed to build momentum first.
They needed the public to understand that parasitic organisms were difficult to distinguish from ordinary people, and that they couldn't rule out the possibility that high-ranking officials had been taken over, either.
In short, they'd accuse them first.
Then they'd force the officials to prove themselves.
To that end, Xu Qiang had contacted two officials in advance and arranged for them to step forward after the press conference and prove that they were