Chapter 272: Tough Problems Should Be Left to the Professionals

Twenty minutes later.

Xicheng Third Hospital.

After the group rendezvoused, they headed straight for the hospital's medical records department.

Identifying themselves to the staff, Yu Dazhang requested Han Lianwu's consultation records and outpatient medical files.

For records like these, hospitals are required to keep them for a minimum of fifteen years.

And even back in 2014, most hospitals had already adopted electronic medical record systems.

Once the relevant data was uploaded to the cloud, entering a person's name could instantly pull up the corresponding consultation records.

Soon, Han Lianwu's file appeared on the computer screen.

"First consultation date: April 27."

Yu Dazhang jotted down several key points in his notebook.

"Please print out a copy of the medical file for me."

Five minutes later, Yu Dazhang took the medical file and headed to the cardiology department.

After identifying himself once more, he handed the file to the doctor:

"Help me take a look—how much longer can this person live?"

When it comes to professional matters, you still have to ask the professionals.

Although the medical file recorded the patient's condition, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, the trouble was Yu Dazhang couldn't make heads or tails of it.

It was full of specialized terminology and medical jargon; one glance and his head started to ache.

Putting any energy into deciphering it would be completely unnecessary.

The doctor took the file and examined it carefully. After a moment, he looked up and said:

"This person's situation is very complicated."

If it weren't complicated, I wouldn't have come to you… Yu Dazhang reined in his patience and explained:

"I don't want to know about the illness or anything like that. I just want to know roughly how much longer he can live—give me a timeframe, that's all."

The doctor frowned, speaking with some difficulty:

"With this kind of heart disease, I can't give you a specific survival timeframe."

"If he can maintain a good quality of life, surviving more than five years is no problem."

"Otherwise, it's a matter of one or two years. It mainly depends on the degree of heart failure and how it progresses."

At this point, the doctor paused, then continued:

"But judging from this medical file, he probably won't live past two years."

This guy's a pro… Yu Dazhang nearly got his head spun around by the doctor's words.

One moment the doctor said that with a good quality of life, he could survive more than five years; the next second it became less than two.

Doctors have to talk like that—they can't speak in absolutes.

Even if they're a hundred percent sure, they still leave themselves three parts of wiggle room.

"Does his illness affect his mobility?" Yu Dazhang asked again.

"Of course." This time the doctor answered directly:

"Heart disease least tolerates overexertion. In the later stages, exertional dyspnea appears—just a little activity and he can't catch his breath."

Knowing this much is enough… Yu Dazhang then led the group to the surveillance room.

After explaining their purpose, the staff rewound the surveillance footage to half a year ago.

Hospital surveillance footage is kept for a relatively long time.

So that when medical disputes or other safety incidents occur, accurate evidence can be provided for investigation and traceability.

But half a year is the limit.

"We need to see the surveillance footage of the cardiology department corridor. Pull up April 27." Yu Dazhang told the surveillance room staff.

Once the staff had set it up as requested, they stood up and gave up their seat.

"Xia Bin, you find the person."

As he spoke, Yu Dazhang took out Han Lianwu's photo and handed it to him:

"Find this person."

The cardiology consultation records had timestamps. After pulling up the specified time window, Xia Bin began staring at the surveillance footage.

In the video, the cardiology department corridor could almost be described as a sea of people.

This department, in any hospital, is where the most patients are—and they're all extremely tricky cases.

There's a little jingle that goes around inside hospitals…

Gold ophthalmology, silver surgery, exhausting ob-gyn, wishy-washy general internal medicine. Within general internal medicine, cardiology is absolutely number one.

Here, there's never any shortage of patients lining up; getting a full night's sleep is the biggest luxury for a cardiologist.

Faced with such a densely packed video image, an ordinary person would get dizzy watching it for a while, let alone trying to pick out a specific person from it.

But Xia Bin was the exception. At first he searched at normal playback speed, but after watching for one minute, he directly bumped the playback speed up to double.

At that speed, Yu Dazhang's eyesight could still keep up, but the others couldn't.

Another two minutes passed, and Xia Bin bumped the playback speed up to four times.

At that speed, even Yu Dazhang was starting to feel a bit dizzy.

His eyesight was good, sure, but when it came to distinguishing images, he was far inferior to Xia Bin.

Yu Dazhang looked away and pinched the bridge of his nose.

When it came to sensitivity to human faces in images, there were few people who could match Xia Bin, the forensic sketch artist.

!

So, he decided it was best not to show off.

About five minutes later, Xia Bin suddenly spoke up:

"Found him!"

As he spoke, he clicked pause with the mouse, and the surveillance frame froze.

Xia Bin pointed at a person on the screen:

"That's him."

Yu Dazhang looked where his fingertip pointed—among the crowd, a tall, lean-faced man stood there.

The man's raised hand held a stack of forms; he appeared to be waiting outside the department for his appointment.

Yu Dazhang took another look at the crowd and estimated there had to be at least thirty people.

So many people, and at four-times speed no less—yet Xia Bin had been able to pick him out accurately. That kind of eye and discernment surprised even Yu Dazhang.

"Keep playing forward," Yu Dazhang thought for a moment, then said:

"Wait until he comes out after his appointment, then switch to a different camera feed."

The cardiology corridor feed had far too many people on it.

On a frame like that, at most you could see someone's upper body—many didn't even show that, only the top of a head poking out.

Once Han Lianwu left cardiology and they switched to another camera, they'd naturally be able to see his full body.

"Got it."

Xia Bin acknowledged, moved the mouse, and clicked play.

In that brief gap, Yu Dazhang asked beside him:

"Based on gait and build, can you tell whether the person who appears later is the same one?"

That was his real purpose.

Xia Bin had watched surveillance footage from crime scenes countless times before, and had a deep memory for suspects' builds and habitual movements.

Reviewing this surveillance was, in effect, obtaining moving images of Han Lianwu.

Comparing the two, Yu Dazhang was confident that with Xia Bin's ability, he would surely be able to tell them apart.

"I can make a judgment."

Xia Bin nodded and replied:

"But this kind of identification can't be a hundred percent certain—I can only give a basic judgment, that is, a degree of similarity."

Always leave yourself a margin when you speak… Yu Dazhang found that every trade seemed to have this rule.

Being cautious also left yourself a way out.

Because the video was playing at four-times speed, it wasn't long before Han Lianwu in the footage entered the cardiology examination room.

When he came out, no emotion was visible on his face—he only looked somewhat weary.

Without pausing at all, he walked in the opposite direction from the crowd and quickly disappeared from the frame.

Based on the direction Han Lianwu had walked, the hospital surveillance room staff pulled up the floor-lobby recording.

After rewinding to the specified time, Han Lianwu appeared again on the feed—only this time he was standing right in the middle of the floor lobby.

He didn't go to the elevator, nor did he look for a chair to sit down.

He just stood there woodenly, motionless.

Yu Dazhang couldn't help frowning.

What was he doing?

(End of chapter)