After the doctor encountered the unlucky car accident last night, he returned to the hospital to help and gave a statement to the traffic police who came to the hospital. The driver had his license revoked on the spot for drunk driving and damaging public property. Once he recovered, he would first face detention and fines. But these weren’t the doctor’s concerns. When he rushed home, he found only a pile of shells left from the spicy crab, spread on the table waiting for his return.
Getting up hungry for work in the morning, the doctor rushed toward the commercial street at lightning speed. When passing the T-junction, he glanced and found the fragments of the shattered green stone stele were gone—they should have been cleaned up and carted away by sanitation workers. Where the green stone stele originally stood, there was now a man in hospital patient clothing.
The doctor didn’t think much of it, because this was an area near the hospital where patients often wandered out in their hospital gowns. The man was probably just standing there waiting for the traffic light.
After briefly sighing that he’d never see that green stone stele again, the doctor’s entire attention was occupied by what to eat for breakfast.
It was another unremarkable day as usual, but because a surgery originally scheduled for today had been moved up to yesterday due to patient complications, the daytime was relatively leisurely. After making rounds, the doctor napped in the break room, then unconsciously wandered to the neurology department floor again, pacing back and forth.
Enter? Or not enter?
“Ay! I heard you were almost hit by a car yesterday—what luck, what luck!” Chun Ge tapped the doctor’s shoulder with a medical chart from behind. “You coming here for a check-up—you didn’t hit your head yesterday, did you? You should go to neurosurgery for that.”
“Just passing by, passing by.” The doctor quickly changed the subject. “You’re here to deliver charts, right? Go quickly—I just heard the director inside calling.”
Chun Ge immediately forgot what he’d been saying and hurried inside, while the doctor patted his white coat, turned, and went downstairs. Chun Ge didn’t need anyone to wait anyway—he’d catch up soon.
Sure enough, within a minute, Chun Ge caught up from behind, hooking the doctor’s shoulder and gossiping: “Speaking of which, that driver who almost hit you escaped before dawn this morning.”
“Escaped?” The doctor stopped, asking in disbelief. Although he hadn’t managed the patient afterward, the man had suffered cardiac arrest at the time, and his cervical and lumbar vertebrae were definitely damaged from the impact. Logically, even getting out of bed and walking should be problematic now—how could he have run away in just a few hours?
“Yeah, disappeared without any staff noticing,” Chun Ge shrugged and analyzed. “Maybe he was afraid of getting in trouble. But these days you can escape the first day but not the fifteenth—the police revoked his license and have all his files and records. How could they not find him?”
The doctor’s mind suddenly, inexplicably flashed to the figure he’d seen at the T-junction that morning.
“But whether he runs or not isn’t our hospital’s business anymore. His family paid the emergency and medical fees. The rest is for the police to worry about. But… hey, why are you leaving? I haven’t finished my gossip!”
Chun Ge looked puzzledly at the doctor’s accelerating departure.
“I suddenly remembered something. I’ll be right back,” the doctor said. By the time he reached the last word, he was already running down several flights of stairs.
“What? I haven’t gotten to the most exciting part yet!” Chun Ge said dejectedly, curling his lips. “Neurosurgery said that driver’s cervical vertebrae were completely severed, yet he was still alive. Forget it—those neurosurgery guys are just making stuff up. Cervical vertebrae severed and he could still walk out of the hospital himself? How is that possible!” Chun Ge muttered to himself, shook his head, and wandered back to cardiothoracic surgery.
Although he already had an inexplicable premonition, when the doctor saw from a distance a figure in patient clothing standing at the T-junction, his running pace involuntarily slowed.
This young man wore a neck brace, his hair shaved for surgery and wrapped in bandages. His face wasn’t half-covered in blood like last night, but revealed a pale, rigid expression. His whole person stood there like a pillar, spine straight, eyes blankly staring ahead with no focus.
The doctor looked several times before confirming the person’s identity from the scrapes on his hands and face. He took out his phone to call—this man hadn’t escaped danger yet. Standing here by the roadside without eating or drinking all day would eventually cause problems. But for this man to stand here looking like this for so many hours without anyone noticing something was wrong…
Just as the doctor was about to dial, the other person suddenly turned his gaze.
“Who am I?” The young driver’s voice was extremely hoarse, probably from not drinking water for a long time. But hearing it suddenly gave one an indescribable sense of eeriness.
The doctor nearly dropped his already cracked phone again. After finally gripping it steady, he looked up and said, “It might be temporary amnesia from head trauma. You should return to the hospital for examination.”
“Who am I?” The young driver repeated the same question, his tone much more solemn.
The doctor was stunned, seeing the other’s serious expression. He could only scratch his head and say embarrassedly, “I didn’t look at your medical chart yesterday and didn’t notice your name…”
“I forgot who I am?” The young driver, unable to get the answer he wanted from the doctor, shifted his gaze away, looking toward the street across from them.
“It’s just temporary amnesia. Once you return to the hospital for some tests, get medication, and rest for a while, you’ll remember,” the doctor said, having seen many uncooperative patients. His voice was soothing, but he observed the other’s condition—bluish complexion, blackened lips, swollen limbs… The more the doctor looked, the more wrong it seemed. He lowered his head to dial, but the young driver hoarsely spoke another sentence that immediately made the doctor freeze.
“Where is my body…”
A chill shot up from his feet to the back of his neck like a venomous snake. The doctor shivered for no reason, his phone-holding hand trembling. “What… what are you saying!”
“My body… where is it…” The young driver’s gaze turned back. His head strangely didn’t turn—only a pair of dark pupils moved back and forth.
Just as the doctor was about to answer “Isn’t your body right in front of me?” the young driver slightly raised his hand.
In his palm, he held a blood-stained green stone fragment.
The doctor initially couldn’t tell what it was and wondered if this was some funny internet meme. The young driver repeated it again, this time essentially word by word: “My, body, where, is, it?”
The doctor then clearly saw that the palm-sized stone fragment still had some paper stuck to it—he could see the husky photo he’d glimpsed last night. It was the missing dog notice that should have been posted on the green stone stele.
Still looking down, the doctor felt chilled throughout and didn’t dare look up at this young driver again. He quickly dialed to notify the emergency room to bring back this escaped patient. During the time waiting for the ambulance, the doctor felt like days were years, every second was torture. He could only talk to himself to relieve the pressure.
“Actually, not remembering things isn’t a big deal, haha.”
“I often can’t remember things either, haha. I don’t even know when I bought my house.”
“So not remembering your own name really isn’t anything… haha…”
By the end, even the doctor felt embarrassed. Fortunately, the young driver, seeing he couldn’t answer his questions, stopped speaking and just continued silently gazing at the street.
When he heard the ambulance siren, the doctor felt like a freed prisoner. He didn’t choose to go back together but watched the ambulance take the young driver away and drive off into the distance. He slowly walked step by step toward the hospital, his back cold and wet, soaked with cold sweat. Only after leaving that T-junction and returning to the bustling commercial street did the doctor come to his senses.
“What! ‘You destroyed my body, so your body belongs to me now…'”
“Haha, how is that possible? This isn’t a horror novel.”
“Come on, I should eat a bowl of spicy hot pot to calm my nerves.”
The fragrant spicy hot pot immediately made the doctor put this matter behind him. But when he went to work the next day, gossipy Chun Ge came over again.
“That driver who almost killed you died at midnight yesterday. They’re now seeking family consent for an autopsy, because X-rays showed that man’s cervical vertebrae were severed the instant of impact in the car accident. How did he live another day? It’s simply an unsolved mystery…”
The doctor was immediately confused and interrupted Chun Ge, asking directly: “What time was the death?”
Chun Ge checked on the computer: “23:45.”
The doctor pulled up his call history. When he encountered the car accident the night before last, he called the hospital emergency room at 23:46.
That meant the driver lived exactly twenty-four hours after his cervical vertebrae were severed.
The young driver’s hoarse voice seemed to echo in his ears again, constantly asking…
“Huh? Why do you look so pale? Do you have a cold? The weather’s been changing quickly lately—don’t catch a chill!”
“…I’m fine.”
Unable to suppress his curiosity, the doctor went to see the young driver’s remains and asked his family if they’d seen a green stone. He received a negative answer.
That evening, when the doctor got off work and passed the T-junction, under the dim streetlight, he vaguely saw an elderly man in his sixties or seventies standing quietly where the green stone stele had originally stood.
The doctor felt a chill and didn’t dare look more, quickening his pace to walk past.
The next day, the doctor would rather take the long way around than dare walk this shortcut again.
However, since starting work, the doctor had encountered countless terrifying and inexplicable events, as well as personally experienced or heard about abnormal death cases. Although this near car accident was dangerous, he didn’t have time to panic. Heavy work pressured him so much that he had no energy to think deeply about this matter.
The doctor was tired as a dog and passed by neurology twice more, but had no time to go in. He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or continue worrying. And Tang Yuan was particularly well-behaved today, actually taking the initiative to bring takeout to the hospital during dinner time, surprising and moving the doctor.
“What mischief are you plotting, you little rascal?” The doctor took the food box and opened it to see steaming dumplings, joyfully ruffling Tang Yuan’s hair.
Tang Yuan tilted his head to dodge the roughing up, snorting lightly: “It’s just repaying you for the late-night snack. It’s not far anyway—I ate and then packed this for you by the way.”
“Better not be that you did something wrong and are buttering me up in advance,” the doctor said, unwrapping disposable chopsticks and pointing at Tang Yuan several times.
“Alright, I’m going back now,” Tang Yuan coughed guiltily twice and waved goodbye. “Oh, don’t take that T-junction when you go back—take the main road!” the doctor quickly advised. Then, feeling one reason wasn’t sufficient, he emphasized again that the small road was too isolated at night—be careful not to get kidnapped.
What answered him was Tang Yuan’s carefree retreating figure and his backward wave. Who knew if the boy had heard.
The doctor worried briefly, but he didn’t have much rest time left—he’d soon be back in surgery. He could only suppress his concerns, quickly eat a few dumplings, and throw himself back into work.
After Tang Yuan left the hospital, he passed through the commercial street and habitually glanced into the Mute House when passing by. He pouted disappointedly, then quickened his pace to leave.
The little white snake tightened around his wrist in dissatisfaction. Tang Yuan immediately pleaded: “My little ancestor, it’s not that I don’t want to go in, but that shop still has that passerby A watching the store! My senior brother hasn’t come back at all! Did you sense wrong?”
The little white snake hissed out its tongue.
“Though I’ve never seen my senior brother, Master said the one wearing red dragon robes is him!” Tang Yuan chattered on, comforting the displeased little white snake, quickening his steps to turn into that T-junction.
Obviously he hadn’t taken the doctor’s words to heart, instead walking to where the green stone stele had originally stood and beginning to search through the weeds for something.
As for the elderly man standing silently there, Tang Yuan just thought he was waiting for someone and paid no attention. Behind the T-junction was an urban park. Tang Yuan searched in the woods with his head down for a while, then seeing it was about time, sent the doctor a text saying he’d arrived home safely.
The doctor didn’t reply—he must be busy. But as long as he sent the message, it proved he was obediently listening.