Chapter 1193: 1161 Unable to Look Directly at Spider‑Man

In the ICU, Zheng Ren looked helplessly at the auntie over fifty and asked, "What's this about?"

"A few days ago someone in the neighborhood was promoting that a deficiency in the body's normal metabolic enzymes causes various diseases, including cancer." The auntie was still a bit dazed; after being teased by Su Yun, she also understood what had happened.

One with a red face, one with a pale face, Zheng Ren and Su Yun worked together smoothly. A few sentences left the auntie before them bewildered, realizing how big a mistake she had made.

"And then? They said dripping fruit juice can cure disease?" Zheng Ren asked solemnly.

If anyone promoted this, Zheng Ren would plan to call the police. This is akin to poisoning or murder—a serious matter.

"No, they're selling a promotional item. I figured it must be fake—how could we, the post‑reform middle‑aged generation, fall for this?" The auntie lay on the bed chuckling, and Zheng Ren felt utterly helpless.

"Then what happened?"

"I started thinking about it. For any scam, there's three parts false, seven parts true—if it were all lies, their health products wouldn't sell. So I thought, supplement what's lacking." The auntie said, "If you take vitamins and lack whatever enzyme, why not just inject it directly? Wouldn't the effect be better?"

"So you went to the community to drip fruit juice?" Zheng Ren still couldn't make sense of the auntie's line of thought.

The hospital is actually a window onto society, just like the police, where you see all kinds of people. Trying to put yourself in others' shoes and understand their thinking is basically impossible.

Moreover, you absolutely shouldn't dwell on this kind of thing, or you'll surely develop a split personality.

Even though Zheng Ren is usually quite empathetic, he still couldn't grasp what the auntie was thinking.

At first she spoke quite logically—at the very least she didn't believe those swindlers, which was correct.

But her later analysis and way of solving the problem…… Zheng Ren could not agree with it at all.

Fortunately, it was caught early; the community hospital, dealing mostly with elderly locals, habitually sets the IV drip rate below 40 drops per minute.

There was some residual fluid left in the IV tube, and when she finished adding the juice, Zheng Ren noticed it, so she got her life back.

Zheng Ren also happened to see her using an advertisement flyer to block the IV bottle, which seemed off. Moreover, he saw flocculent sediment in the bottle; at first he thought it was a drug reaction caused by the community hospital's irregular medication mixing.

Who would have thought this auntie would be so bold as to drip fruit juice straight into her vein?

Damn, that's intense! Zheng Ren recalled the lab report—she's fine for now. But who can guarantee that not a single drop of juice actually got in?

Only if she's still fine tomorrow morning can we be sure.

Still, it's really dangerous—just one step away from disaster.

Zheng Ren didn't keep scolding the auntie who had dripped juice into herself; instead he comforted her with a couple of words, patted Su Yun, who was happily chatting with a little nurse, and turned to leave.

As soon as he turned, Zheng Ren felt several gazes land on his back like they wanted to kill him.

Sigh, Su Yun, you troublemaker—can't you flirt a little less? Just teasing without taking, you're really living in a sea of flowers, not a single leaf sticking to you.

I don't know what he's after when he flirts with girls; I've known him half a year and still haven't seen him get close to any of them.

"Boss, want to grab dinner and see a movie tonight?" Su Yun said.

"A movie?"

"Spider‑Man just came out; the other days you weren't home, this side was especially busy, and I had no time to watch it." Su Yun complained.

"It's because I wasn't home; you go out drinking every day."

"Socializing is work too." After Su Yun's excuse was exposed, he showed no embarrassment at all: "Aren't you interested in Marvel movies?"

"The Hulk's okay, but the initial casting had some problems. Still, Spider‑Man—I just can't bring myself to watch it." Zheng Ren said: "Do you know how spiders reproduce?"

"Come on, boss, it's just a comic‑adaptation movie—don't overthink it." Su Yun obviously knew, but before Zheng Ren brought this up, he had never thought about it. (Note 1)

"Look at his various poses—that's not harassment, what is it? If you swapped in a person……"

"Don't say more—after you put it that way, I don't even want to watch." Su Yun hurriedly stopped Zheng Ren.

"Then let's change the topic—you're sure that auntie's okay, right?" Zheng Ren said.

In fact, Zheng Ren saw no diagnosis of bacteremia or anything like that on the auntie's system panel, and he was certain of that.

Normally, keeping the auntie in the Emergency Department for observation would be enough. But since it's a big deal about dripping fruit juice, Zheng Ren would rather err on the side of caution and sent her straight to the ICU.

The observation room in the Emergency Department isn't that thorough—how could it compare to the ICU here?

Although it costs a bit more, just think of it as the auntie paying her tuition. From now on, absolutely no more nonsense like this—Zheng Ren thinks that way.

"You hardly ever ask me questions like this—don't you have anything on your mind?" Su Yun blew out a breath, his black forehead hair fluttering.

"I think it's fine; let me confirm with you."

"Nothing's wrong." Su Yun said: "You caught it early—I think the auntie's still lucky. But coming back to it, boss, how did you notice?"

"Rich clinical experience."

"Get lost!"

……

Leaving the ICU, Zheng Ren found Director Kong and Sun Ming. Sun Ming's face was still as white as a sheet.

Zheng Ren comforted him with a couple of words and explained the basic situation. After discussing it face to face, Sun Ming felt a bit better.

"Don't the community clinics monitor these things at all?" Su Yun suddenly asked.

"What things?" Sun Ming was still a bit dazed.

"In the ER I've seen a middle‑aged man who goes every few days to drip metronidazole, saying his tooth hurts." Su Yun said: "Later a little nurse thought it odd—his toothaches so frequent, why not see a doctor instead of constantly coming for an IV? Could dripping metronidazole be addictive?"

Zheng Ren already knew what Su Yun was talking about.

"Afterwards, everyone, bored out of their minds, would finish the drip, use hemostatic forceps to tear open the metal seal on the bottle, and see how many extra puncture holes had appeared in the rubber cap."

Sun Ming was speechless—you didn't even have to think to know what that patient had been adding to the medicine bottle.

"After that, no one dared to take him in anymore; after a while he stopped coming to the ER, and nobody knows where he went." Su Yun said: "You really have zero clinical experience—after all these years with no incidents, you're just plain lucky."

Su Yun's words hit Zheng Ren right in the heart.

……

Note 1: On the topic of spider reproduction, writing too much just gets asterisks; if you're curious, just look it up on Baidu. Anyway, whenever I see that youthful, immature face of Spider‑Man, I always think he's a pervert. Wahaha~~~