A pearl lost in the vast sea

Ding.

Her phone rang.

Qin Daichuan glanced at the caller ID and answered. Zhao Yi said over the phone, "That nurse you asked me to investigate, Ding Xuan-she used to be an intern at First Hospital. She left a while ago."

"That's how it looks on the surface!" Zhao Yi abruptly changed tack, speaking much faster. "But the truth is, this nurse is already dead. She became an organ donor, and the organs inside the Zhou Family's young master, Zhou Bo, are hers! Fuck, I smell the filthy stink of rich people!"

Qin Daichuan fell silent.

Ding Xuan was dead.

But "Ding Xuan" was alive.

Descent.

Qin Daichuan moved his hand and entered a new number in the Monster Archives.

Number

9: Nurse (pending review).

Chapter 9: A pearl lost in the vast sea.

From night until sunrise, no one at the Ability Control Bureau stopped to rest. They were all dealing with the Polluted that had emerged.

But the situation was far better than initially expected. When the water-controlling Polluted was discovered, the Ability Control Bureau had estimated the disaster level to formulate a rescue plan. Judging by the current situation, it had not even reached a tenth of their estimate.

What a blessing!

The water-controlling Polluted was suspected to be dead, but martial law remained in place across the city because of that word: "suspected."

Two days later, after most of the low-level Polluted had been dealt with and the water-controlling Polluted had failed to appear, the Ability Control Bureau finally issued a notice lifting the restrictions on residents. They disclosed the truth about the water-controlling Polluted's unexplained disappearance and kept the hotline open to handle emergencies.

City A First Hospital.

Ye Jiang had not seen her friend Yu Qingyi for two days. According to the nurse, her friend had contacted the hospital and asked them to take good care of her.

"It couldn't be helped. The whole city was under restrictions," the nurse said, a hint of pride in her voice. Despite such a major Polluted incident, casualties throughout the incident had been kept extremely low. It was historically rare, and only their City A had managed it this time. How could she not feel proud when her city was so strong?

"Our branch bureau really is amazing!"

The nurse could not help praising them. The people from the branch bureau had protected them very well.

Ye Jiang stared at the nurse with unfathomable eyes, not quite understanding what she was saying. She had lost too many memories, and her common sense came and went. Sometimes, when she did not understand something and asked why, whoever heard her would burst into uncontrollable laughter. Gradually, she had stopped liking to ask.

The nurse gave her a handful of pills.

Yes, a handful.

Two days earlier, she and her fellow patient had returned to their rooms without anyone at the hospital noticing that they had gone out for a stroll. Early the next morning, they had started bringing her medicine they had never given her before, apparently saying it treated some kind of contamination. Every morning afterward, she had been required to take medicine like this.

She liked candy, not medicine. It was bitter.

Ye Jiang stared at the nurse who had brought her medicine and asked, "Where's Nurse Ding?"

Now that she thought about it, she had not seen Nurse Ding for two or three days either.

She was more used to that nurse. She gave her candy and patiently explained bits of common knowledge she did not understand.

Only after watching her swallow the pills did the nurse answer, "Which Nurse Ding? That intern? She left."

Left...

Did that mean she wasn't here anymore?

Ye Jiang froze.

Seeing her suddenly stop, the nurse thought she had choked on the pills and hurriedly poured her a glass of water. "Have some water, have some water!"

Ye Jiang took it and drank expressionlessly.

The nurse sighed in relief. Seeing no sign of contamination in her condition, she said, "We won't bring you any more medicine starting tomorrow."

This was good news. A little light appeared in Ye Jiang's pitch-black eyes.

The nurse had been newly transferred to help on this floor. The floor's original nurses were all lying in beds as patients now. Having only just arrived, she did not know Ye Jiang well, so she left once she had made sure Ye Jiang had taken her medicine and her work was done. After leaving the room, she suddenly remembered something. "Huh? I heard the patient in bed 312 only woke up a few days ago. That intern, Nurse Ding, left quite a while ago. How does she know her?"

Unable to figure it out, she shook her head and stopped thinking about it.

Not long after the nurse left, Ye Jiang went next door. She had spent the past two days watching television in her fellow patient's room.

When she entered, her fellow patient was spread out in a thin sheet, draped over the sofa chair, utterly lifeless. Ye Jiang paid him no attention and found herself a seat, turned on the television, and looked for a program.

She was already used to her fellow patient's half-dead state. He had been like this for the past two days.

"Sigh."

"Sigh, sigh."

Her fellow patient kept sighing.

Ye Jiang: "..."

She turned to look at him. "Shut up."

He was interfering with her show.

Her fellow patient gurgled.

His sheetlike body slid off the chair and over to Ye Jiang's side, where he stared at her.

"Give me some advice," he said quietly.

Ye Jiang: "..."

She silently sighed. "What do you want advice about?"

Invisible Man returned from his two-dimensional state to three dimensions. There was no malice in his two hollow eyes, only worry. "I want to find a job, but I don't know what I can do."

He said, "I want to earn money."

This fell into a gap in Ye Jiang's common knowledge. She asked in confusion, "Earn money?"

What was money?

Ye Jiang lacked common sense, but strangely, she was not entirely without it. Her gaps often appeared in unexpected places, and earning money happened to fall outside her knowledge.

Her fellow patient sighed. "My dad died, and my older brother died. Logically, even though I'm an illegitimate son, with all my family dead, it should have been my turn to inherit."

But he had gone out and discovered that the Zhou Family had been investigated, and their enormous fortune had all been handed over.

He said gloomily, "I have no money left."

Ye Jiang asked, "What do you need money for?"

Invisible Man: "??"

He grew agitated. "What do you need money for? It's incredibly useful! Food costs money, clothes cost money, buying things you like costs money, going out to have fun costs money. Everything costs money-food, clothing, housing, transportation, all of it! How can you get by without money?"

Although he no longer needed to worry about food, clothing, housing, or transportation in his current form, he wanted to become someone accomplished. Ye Jiang would not let him steal books, so he had to earn money to buy them!

The more Ye Jiang listened, the deeper her brows furrowed, and she slowly sat up straighter.

So that was it.

A trace of seriousness appeared on her expressionless face. In that case, money really was indispensable.

A bad feeling arose within her. "Does treating an illness cost money too?"

"You mean your illness?" Invisible Man said as though it were obvious. "Of course. Your illness costs a lot to treat. Three years of treatment would cost a little over a million at least."

"How much is a million?"

"About enough to feed an ordinary person for a lifetime."

Ye Jiang sat bolt upright, realizing the seriousness of the matter.

No wonder her friend wore tattered clothes and was run off her feet every day. It turned out she had been dragging her down.

She wanted to be discharged. She could not stay another day in this money-consuming hospital.

"You said you'd give me advice..."

Invisible Man wanted to return to the subject, but with a gust of wind, Ye Jiang was gone.

Invisible Man: "Huh?"

Ye Jiang strode to the nurses' station and immediately announced that she wanted to be discharged, startling the nurse inside.

"Your recovery is good enough for discharge, but your friend isn't here. Let's wait until she comes," the nurse said.

Ye Jiang frowned, insisting on being discharged. Helpless, the nurse made a call, then told Ye Jiang she had contacted her friend, who had agreed to come over, and asked her to go back and wait a little. Ye Jiang agreed to the hospital's arrangement, but did not return to her room immediately. She asked quietly, "How much has my hospital stay cost?"

The nurse froze, then put on a professional smile. "We nurses don't really know about that."

Ye Jiang said, "Then who knows?"

The nurse said, "Why don't you go back and ask your friend?"

Ye Jiang: "..."

She did not know much about navigating social situations, but for some reason, she had a feeling her friend would not tell her the truth.

She returned to her room with somewhat heavy steps.

Yu Qingyi arrived an hour after lunch, wearing clean clothes and carrying a bouquet. As soon as she entered the room, she smiled and handed the flowers to Ye Jiang, hugged her, and said in her ear, "Congratulations to our Jiangjiang on getting well and leaving the hospital."

Ye Jiang looked at her smile, then at the flowers filling her arms, and found it a little difficult to ask about money.

She silently breathed in the fragrance of the flowers. After a long time, without asking anything, she hesitantly, awkwardly raised her hands and gently hugged her friend back.

"...Mm."

Using what she had learned from Nurse Ding, she said to someone for the first time, "Thank you."

Ye Jiang was discharged. Afterward, Yu Qingyi insisted that she stay at her home.

"We moved here from City S. We can't go back to our old place anymore, and you don't have anywhere to stay in City A, so stay with me for now." Yu Qingyi settled her into her studio apartment. It was an old, shabby little place, but it had been decorated to be very

cozy

, with care evident everywhere.

"You've lost your memory, so I might feel a little unfamiliar to you, and you might feel uncomfortable living with me."

Yu Qingyi sniffled. "I'm sorry, Jiangjiang. I can't afford to rent another place for you."

Ye Jiang fell silent.

She stared at her unfamiliar friend, and that strange feeling welled up inside her again, making her involuntarily offer something in return. "I like it here."

Yu Qingyi immediately brightened. "Really? That's good!"

Yu Qingyi was truly happy. Humming, she showed Ye Jiang around the room, told her how to use the kitchen and bathroom, and finally handed her a bag of things.

"This is your ID card. When you're out and about, your ID card is very important."

She explained what the ID card was for and told her to carry it with her.

Then she took out a phone and gave it to her. "I bought this for you. It's for contacting people. I've already saved my number in it. If anything happens, make sure you contact me first."