The police officers who came to the hospital to take a statement were a man and a woman in their twenties. Though they wore uniforms, they looked more like police academy students, with the youthful freshness and liveliness still clinging to them.
The female officer with a ponytail curiously flipped through the two lifelike portrait sketches, whose facial details were remarkably accurate. Smiling, she said, "As expected of a Yanda Affiliated High School student. You're really impressive. This is no worse than the work of our veteran officers in the technical division!"
Even so, Lu Chi's drawings did not prove particularly useful. On the very night Qiao Shiyu was rescued, the police had followed the testimony of the only captured criminal and uncovered the identities and backgrounds of the other two suspects. They had even located their hideout.
Unfortunately, the two suspects had not returned home or contacted any relatives or friends since that night. The police had initially suspected that they had fled elsewhere, but Lu Chi was attacked outside the gates of Yanda Affiliated Primary School at noon on Monday—if the people who attacked Lu Chi really were those two fugitive suspects, it meant they were still in Yanjing and had not left. But that was only speculation. There was currently no evidence linking the two cases.
Besides, even if the technical division could confirm the suspects' identities through comparison and analysis, it would be useless if they could not catch them. After all, the year 2000 was nothing like later times, when the Skynet System had cameras everywhere and suspects were practically exposed the moment they appeared on camera. Present-day Yanjing only had surveillance cameras on major traffic arteries, crowded public places, and more important municipal sites. For example, there were two cameras along the stretch outside Yanda Affiliated Primary School where Lu Chi was attacked because it was a nationally key school and stood beside an intersection. Once the motorcycle that attacked Lu Chi turned into the small alley by the roadside, it was like a fish returning to the sea. Finding two deliberately hidden suspects in a city of more than thirteen million people was scarcely easier than finding a needle in a haystack.
Naturally, the two officers would not say something so discouraging in front of the victim. They simply took his statement as procedure required and assured Lu Chi that the police would do everything in their power.
Before leaving, Lu Chi pointed at the portrait of the suspect with the hairy mole at the corner of his eye and said, "I'm sure he was the one who hit me."
The two officers smiled at each other and said, "Don't worry. The police uncles will catch the bad guys as soon as possible."
Clearly, neither of them took Lu Chi's words seriously.
Lu Chi blinked. I'm telling the truth.
As Lu Chi recalled the two incidents, he had also reconstructed in his mind the trajectory of the iron bar that had attacked him at noon that day. He compared it with the two suspects who had kidnapped Qiao Shiyu and ultimately determined that the man who had attacked him with an iron bar had the exact same habitual arm-swinging movements as the kidnapper with the hairy mole.
Unfortunately, in the police's eyes, Lu Chi's insistence was merely subjective speculation and had no credibility at all.
After the police left, Lu Chi lay in his hospital bed with nothing to do, so he simply held Zhang Yang's laptop and continued reading his notes. The male caregiver Yue Bin had hired to look after him was conscientious in his duties, asking every so often whether Lu Chi needed the restroom, wanted water, or wished to go for a walk. At around ten in the morning, a nurse came to take him for a brain CT scan to check whether he had intracranial bleeding or anything similar.
Lu Chi somewhat worriedly mentioned to his attending physician that his memory seemed to have improved, asking whether this counted as a kind of aftereffect and whether it might affect his health.
However, for some reason, Lu Chi did not tell the doctor about the more specific changes in his mind—such as how he could determine the movement trajectory of the person who attacked him merely by recalling and comparing events in his mind, then deduce exactly who that person was. It sounded far too exaggerated.
"I used to need to read something two or three times before I could remember it. Now I remember it after one read. And I remember it more firmly than before. Also, I feel like my thinking is clearer than it used to be."
Lu Chi looked worriedly at Dr. Sun. "Is my current condition still a concussion?"
Wasn't the normal reaction to a concussion being unable to remember the circumstances of the injury, followed by dizziness, nausea, vomiting, even heart palpitations, excessive sweating, and cold limbs?
But aside from a brief blank in his consciousness, dizziness, and nausea on the day he was attacked, Lu Chi's reactions afterward had all been normal. He could even recall every detail of the attack while eating dinner...
The brain was the most intricate organ in the human body. Even though Dr. Sun was a renowned brain specialist in Yanjing, he did not dare claim that his understanding of the brain was comprehensive. Hearing Lu Chi's concerns, Dr. Sun could only reassure him, "The brain is inherently the most intricate organ in the human body. When it suffers severe trauma, it can indeed trigger all sorts of symptoms..."
Dr. Sun unconsciously rattled off a string of professional terms, explaining from every angle that Lu Chi's condition when he had first been admitted did indeed match the symptoms of a mild concussion. As for why Lu Chi had developed such changes during treatment, Dr. Sun said that with current medical standards, it was not always possible to fully explain every patient's condition. However, there had indeed been international cases of patients becoming suddenly smarter or acquiring new skills after suffering a severe blow to the head.
"...At present, your treatment is progressing well. We will continue observing you for a week to half a month, or even longer, until we confirm that you have fully recovered, or thoroughly investigate any aftereffects or other complications..."
"Of course, I still recommend that you minimize mental exertion during treatment..."
By the time Lu Chi left Dr. Sun's office, it was already noon. Yue Bin and his friends had slipped out again during the school lunch break and brought Lu Chi food from the small cafeteria—still mostly light dishes. Zhang Yang had also brought Lu Chi's schoolbag from Class Eleven. Lu Chi hurriedly returned Zhang Yang's laptop to him. "Thanks for the computer, but you should take it back. It's too unsafe to leave it at the hospital. If the doctor hadn't stopped me, I nearly carried it with me for my CT scan this morning."
Zhang Yang raised an eyebrow and asked disapprovingly, "Don't you still have to grade your sister's homework? What are you going to use if I take it away?"