The next morning, Qingyu was already inside the largest hospital in the southern district of the capital.
Even with Qingyu’s memories, the scale of the hospital still surprised her a bit.
Tall white walls, polished floors, and long hallways that looked too clean to be called a place for sick people.
But what caught her attention the most was the atmosphere.
The hospital was not truly quiet, yet every sound seemed controlled.
Footsteps were muted.
Doors closed softly without harsh impacts.
Even conversations in the corridors were carried out in lowered voices.
Nothing seemed out of place.
In Azura, places of healing were usually much livelier.
Healers came and went carrying the scent of medicine, the sound of furnaces, or the screams of patients unable to endure the pain of shattered bones being reset.
Here, everything was restrained beneath artificial calmness.
Lin Feng walked beside her with steady steps.
Xiao Lan followed several paces behind while carrying a small bag filled with documents and a water bottle.
Lady Su walked slightly ahead, occasionally speaking with hospital staff who greeted them politely.
They headed toward the laboratory section for blood collection, as requested by the doctor earlier.
“Don’t be too nervous,” Lin Feng said without looking at her.
“I’m not nervous,” Qingyu replied.
Lin Feng glanced at her briefly before giving a faint smile.
“Good.”
Qingyu truly was not nervous.
The place still felt foreign to her.
Even the scent of this hospital felt different.
There was no smell of boiling herbs or fresh blood.
Instead, she smelled antiseptic liquid, cold air-conditioning, and something so clean it felt sharp in the nose.
When her blood was drawn, Qingyu watched the process quietly.
A thin needle pierced her skin, and blood flowed into a transparent tube through a small line.
The nurse drawing her blood moved with practiced speed.
“All done,” the nurse said a moment later while pressing a small cotton pad against Qingyu’s arm.
Qingyu watched the blood tube disappear into the nurse’s tray.
The nurse put a priority label on the tube.
So this was how doctors in this world examined the body.
It was slower than examining qi, but still precise enough for ordinary humans.
They moved to an upper floor afterward.
In front of one of the doors was a sign:
Internal Examination — Dr.
Ming
Lin Feng knocked softly before opening the door.
A middle-aged man sat behind a work desk.
His doctor’s coat was simple and lacked decoration.
The hair at his temples had begun turning gray, but his eyes remained extremely sharp.
“Mr.
Lin,” he greeted while standing up.
“It’s been a while.”
Lin Feng shook his hand briefly.
“This time I brought my daughter.”
Dr.
Ming shifted his gaze toward Qingyu.
His eyes lingered slightly longer than normal politeness required, as though he were trying to understand something that did not quite match the information already in his mind.
“Please sit here, Qingyu.”
He gestured toward the examination bed near the monitoring equipment.
Qingyu sat down.
The room was filled with unfamiliar medical equipment.
Several monitors displayed moving graphs.
Small indicator lights blinked softly in the corners.
There were oxygen sensors, blood pressure monitors, and data screens that continuously changed.
“Breathe normally,” the nurse instructed.
Qingyu obeyed.
She kept the flow of qi hidden in the deepest layer of her body, just enough to keep the poison stable without triggering excessive reactions.
The monitor began displaying numbers.
Heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing rhythm.
All of them remained stable.
Then the heartbeat graph shifted slightly.
One beat lagged for a fraction of a second before returning to normal.
The nurse frowned.
She tapped the side of the monitor lightly.
“The sensor’s a little sensitive today,” she muttered.
Qingyu didn’t say anything, but her eyes lingered on the screen for a few moments longer.
Some of the devices were familiar through Lin Qingyu’s memories from previous hospital visits.
But now she viewed them differently.
These machines did not read qi.
Yet they read the effects qi had on the human body.
Interesting.
Dr.
Ming said nothing.
But he had clearly noticed the slight change on the screen earlier.
The examination continued.
Qingyu’s blood pressure was still slightly low, but far better than previous records.
Her body temperature was stable.
Oxygen levels were normal.
“Repeat that once more,” Dr.
Ming suddenly said.
The nurse repeated several measurements.
This time the results returned completely normal, as though the earlier irregularity had never existed.
Lin Feng stood near the desk with his arms folded across his chest.
He looked calm, but his eyes had not truly left the monitor results since the examination began.
“Physically, she does appear much better,” Dr.
Ming said several minutes later.
“The bruising has also begun fading.”
Lin Feng nodded.
“That’s why I wanted a full examination.”
At that moment, the door opened.
Lady Su entered wearing the gentle smile she always prepared so carefully.
“Sorry,” she said.
“The restroom line was rather long.”
Dr.
Ming only gave a small nod.
“We’re still waiting for the lab results.”
Lady Su moved beside Lin Feng and glanced briefly toward Qingyu.
“How is her condition?”
“More stable than the previous report,” Dr.
Ming answered.
Lady Su smiled with perfect relief.
“That’s good to hear.
Qingyu really has looked much better these past few days.”
Qingyu did not react.
She simply sat quietly while allowing the conversation to continue.
Not long afterward, a staff member knocked and handed over the preliminary laboratory results.
Dr.
Ming opened them while remaining standing.
Several seconds passed.
His brows furrowed.
Lin Feng immediately noticed the subtle change.
“Is there a problem?”
“Nothing certain yet,” Dr.
Ming replied while rereading several values.
“Some results are still below the normal range.”
Lady Su stepped slightly closer.
“That happens often,” she said quickly, though her voice still sounded gentle.
“Qingyu has always been fragile since childhood.
Sometimes her condition improves, then drops again a few days later.”
Lin Feng turned toward her.
“But her physical condition is much better.”
Lady Su smiled faintly.
“This child’s body has never been stable.”
Dr.
Ming did not respond immediately.
He compared the lab results with the physical examination data displayed on his tablet.
Something did not match.
Certain values were too poor for a patient who could walk steadily and speak as calmly as Qingyu had.
Yet other values were far too normal.
“Tomorrow morning, I want to repeat several tests,” he finally said.
“Some parameters aren’t entirely consistent.”
Lady Su maintained her smile.
“Of course, if the doctor thinks it’s necessary.”
But her fingers tightened around each other.
Qingyu noticed it, so did Dr.
Ming.
“Qingyu,” he said while closing the examination file.
“If there are any other symptoms, or if you feel your body changing after today, tell me immediately.”
“Alright, Doctor.”
The examination ended several minutes later.
They walked out toward the elevators.
Lin Feng’s pace slowed in the corridor.
“We’ll repeat the tests tomorrow,” he said.
“I want completely clear results.”
“Of course,” Lady Su replied gently.
“As long as it’s for Qingyu’s health.”
Xiao Lan walked behind them, occasionally glancing toward Qingyu.
She still seemed somewhat nervous inside such a large hospital.
Qingyu spent more time observing the people around her than the hospital itself.
The doctors looked exhausted, the nurses moved constantly from room to room, and even the families waiting outside the wards carried the same tension in their eyes.
This world had no concept of qi or spiritual energy.
Even so, its people had still developed medicine capable of treating illnesses that once would have taken countless lives.
As the elevator doors closed, Dr.
Ming remained standing outside his office.
He reopened Qingyu’s lab report.
His eyes stopped on several sections.
Then he picked up a pen and added a small note beneath the report.
Bruising inconsistent with anemia.
Distribution pattern too regular.
Possible chronic toxin exposure.
Test marker X.
He paused for several seconds.
Decades of experience had trained him to notice details most people overlooked.
And there was something about Qingyu’s condition that felt unnatural.
It was not simply illness.
Something slowly eroding the body over a long period of time.
Dr.
Ming closed the file quietly.
The changes in Qingyu’s laboratory results were minimal, almost insignificant at first glance.
Each marker had improved by a small but remarkably consistent margin.
The pattern bothered him more than he liked to admit.