Chapter 82
Song Ling felt a shift in Li Mo’s gaze. It was the same look Li Xinjun used to give her, especially when she heard Li Mo call her “Sister Ling.” All the familiar feelings rushed back, but after so many disappointments, she didn’t dare to believe it just yet.
“Jun’er, is that you? Have you remembered?”
“Are you… Sister Ling?”
“Yes! Yes, it’s me, Song Ling, your Sister Ling! Jun’er! It really is you, my Jun’er!”
Song Ling embraced her, tears of joy streaming down her face. Li Mo, still confused, allowed herself to be held. Her mind was a jumbled mess of fragmented memories and emotions. The images she had seen confirmed her identity: she, Li Mo, was indeed Li Xinjun, the woman Song Ling had been searching for. But why couldn’t she remember anything else?
The images had shown her happy moments with Song Ling, but she couldn’t recall the details. She desperately wanted to remember, to piece together her past, but only those fleeting glimpses remained. As she strained to remember, the excruciating pain returned, threatening to overwhelm her.
“Argh! My head! My head hurts! Sister Ling, my head hurts so much!”
She clutched her head, her temples throbbing, her veins bulging. Song Ling, seeing her agony, felt helpless. She was weak from blood loss and couldn’t restrain Li Mo, who was thrashing wildly.
Mark arrived at the doorway just then, witnessing the scene unfolding before him. He rushed over, grabbed a syringe filled with sedative from the bedside table, and injected it into Li Mo’s arm. Li Mo’s body went limp, collapsing against Song Ling.
Mark turned to Song Ling, noticing the bite marks on her neck and her pale face. He knew what had happened.
“Are you crazy?! You let her drink that much of your blood?! Do you know what could happen?!”
“I couldn’t stop her! She was too strong!”
“Excuses! You couldn’t bear to hurt her! If you really wanted to escape, you could have! Don’t you know that if she consumes too much of your blood, she could lose control? Do you think you’re helping her by doing this? You’re only making things worse! I can’t believe you!”
“… I didn’t mean to… What do we do now? Before you arrived, she seemed to remember something, but then she lost control again.”
“I told you we should keep her restrained! But you had to be soft-hearted and untie her! Now, while she’s still unconscious, help me chain her up again! And then we need to run those tests and figure out what’s wrong with her!”
“Okay…”
Mark gently moved Li Xinjun off Song Ling and laid her down on the bed, then secured her limbs with the iron chains. Song Ling, weak from blood loss, watched helplessly as Mark restrained Li Xinjun.
Once Li Xinjun was securely chained, Mark drew some blood from her arm and filled several vials, labeling them carefully. He then stood up and turned to Song Ling.
“How long are you planning to stand there? Don’t you need to replenish your blood? Do you expect me to do everything myself?”
“Oh, right, I’ll go now.”
“Sigh… You’re hopeless! They say pregnancy brain lasts for three years. You’ve been lovesick for centuries!”
Mark shook his head and left the room. Song Ling, watching him leave, quickly followed him downstairs. She retrieved two blood bags from the refrigerator, heated them in the microwave, and drank them. Her strength slowly returned.
Mark entered the kitchen, noticing that Song Ling’s color had improved. He took a blood bag from the refrigerator, sat down beside Song Ling, and drank it straight from the bag, without heating it.
“I’ve run some tests on her blood. We’ll have the results in two hours. When you’re feeling better, I need you to help me move her to another room. We need to run a full body scan.”
“Okay, whatever you say.”
“Sigh… You’re so distraught, I can’t rely on you for any suggestions. Just be my muscle and try not to cause any more trouble.”
“Okay, I’ll be careful.”
“Are you feeling better now? Let’s go upstairs.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
They went upstairs and, while Li Xinjun was still unconscious from the sedative, carefully moved her from the bed to a medical gurney, securing her with restraints for easy transport to other rooms for medical examinations.
They wheeled her into another room, equipped with various medical devices: an X-ray machine, a CT scanner, an MRI machine, an ultrasound machine, a surgical table, and other medical equipment.
Mark first took a full-body X-ray of Li Xinjun. When the images were developed, he placed them on a lightbox and examined them carefully with Song Ling. They both had extensive medical knowledge and experience, so these basic examinations posed no challenge for them.
“Mark, look! What’s that?” Song Ling exclaimed, pointing to one of the X-ray images.
“What?”
“There’s a strange shadow in her head!”
Mark frowned, studying the X-ray image. There was indeed an unusual shadow in Li Xinjun’s brain.
“What is that? What do you think it is, Mark?”
“I can’t tell. It’s not clear enough. No wonder she’s been complaining of headaches. Maybe this is the cause. We should do a CT scan and an MRI.”
“Yes, that will give us a clearer picture.”
They wheeled Li Xinjun to the CT scanner and the MRI machine, conducting more tests, and then returned her to her room. When Li Xinjun finally woke up, it was already afternoon.
She looked around the empty room and tried to get out of bed, but she was chained to the bedposts again, her limbs restrained. She sighed, giving up, and stared at the ceiling.
A while later, Mark and Song Ling entered the room, carrying a stack of papers and medical reports. Seeing that Li Xinjun was awake, Song Ling rushed to her side.
“Jun’er? How are you feeling?”
“Jun’er?” Li Xinjun looked at her, confused.
“You… You remembered earlier, didn’t you?”
“I… I don’t know… I saw some images, some memories of you and me… But I don’t know why I can’t remember them clearly. And I don’t know why I saw those images.”
“Believe me, you’re Jun’er. You saw those memories because they’re still in your mind. You just can’t access them yet.”
“I don’t know… I’m so confused… I… Whenever I try to remember, my head hurts… Ugh… Argh! It’s happening again!”
Mark, seeing her distress, grabbed Song Ling’s shoulder and shook his head. Song Ling, understanding, turned to Li Xinjun, her face filled with concern.
“Jun’er, relax. Don’t try to remember. It’s okay. We’re not in a hurry. Just relax. Shh, shh, it’s okay, it’s okay…”
Song Ling’s soothing voice calmed Li Xinjun down, and the pain subsided. She took a deep breath and looked at them.
“Am I really Li Xinjun? How can you be so sure?”
“We ran some tests while you were asleep. We found something unusual in your brain. These are the results. Take a look.”
Mark handed her the medical reports. Song Ling helped her sit up in bed.
Li Xinjun flipped through the pages, her brow furrowed in confusion. Song Ling sat beside her, pointing out the key findings.
“Look here, and here. The scans show a triangular object in your brain. See? Here too.”
“What is that? Why is there something in my brain?”
“We don’t know yet. We can only see that it’s a triangular object. We need to operate and examine it to determine what it is.”
“Mark is right. We’re just speculating, but this might be the cause of your amnesia and your headaches.”
“So, if you remove it, I’ll regain my memories?”
“We can’t be sure. We need to identify it first and then determine if it’s safe to remove. It’s quite large, and its apex seems to be embedded deep within your brain. We’ll need to open you up and take a look before we can decide.”
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