Chapter 10: Upheaval

“Brother Lei, Dr. Lin is here.” Xiao Fang lowered his voice as he reminded him.

Both men turned their heads at the same time. 

Lu Dongnuan was standing a few steps away, her eyes fixed on Sister Jing, her brows slightly furrowed.

“Where are you feeling unwell?” she asked, her voice steady.

“All of a sudden… I can’t catch my breath.” Sister Jing’s words were broken, laced with obvious pain.

“Have you ever had this happen before?”

“No.”

She glanced at the two men and asked, “Have either of you experienced this?”

The two shook their heads blankly, not understanding why she would suddenly ask them.

“Really? This is important.”

“No, doctor, really, never.”

“That’s good.”

“Doctor, why do I feel like you’re talking in riddles?”

Lu Dongnuan ignored Xiao Fang’s sudden outburst, lowered her gaze, and fell into a thoughtful pose. 

As a psychologist, there was little more she could see.

“Any palpitations, or chest pain?”

Sister Jing nodded with difficulty, her face growing even paler.

“Dr. Lin, what exactly is going on?” Zhuo Lei’s face was ashen, his tone urgent.

Lu Dongnuan crossed her arms, her expression grave. 

After pondering for a moment, she spoke slowly, “I’ve observed her breathing pattern, looking for signs of hyperventilation, shallow rapid breathing, or spasms in her hands and feet. Based on initial assessment with the HAMA and HAMD models, this could be pulmonary dyspnea, or cardiac dyspnea. Of course, neuropsychogenic dyspnea can’t be ruled out entirely.”

She deliberately slowed her speech so that every technical term landed clearly in their ears. 

Sweeping her gaze over Zhuo Lei and Xiao Fang’s half-confused, half-pretending-to-understand faces, she nearly broke character, but managed to maintain her professional, rigorous expression.

“Considering the current environmental stress and acute pressure, neuropsychogenic factors—like acute anxiety attacks, that is, panic disorder—do need to be taken into account. But cardiac and pulmonary causes, especially any undiagnosed organic lesions, are much higher risk and must be ruled out first.”

Her barrage of terminology worked as expected. 

Though Zhuo Lei and Xiao Fang understood little, they caught the keywords “higher risk” and “must be ruled out first,” and their faces grew even darker.

“Then… how do we check for that?” Zhuo Lei pressed, the anxiety in his voice clearly real.

Lu Dongnuan secretly smiled, but on the surface, she showed a troubled expression and said, “We’d need a stethoscope to check heart and lung sounds. A blood pressure monitor would help, but we don’t have either.” 

She spread her hands helplessly, perfectly embodying a chef with no rice to cook. 

“However,” she changed tack, her gaze returning to Sister Jing, “we can still do some basic checks. Sister Jing, can you cooperate with me?”

Sister Jing nodded weakly.

“Good. Please try to relax and breathe evenly.” Lu Dongnuan squatted down, gently placing her fingers on the artery in Sister Jing’s neck, feeling the rapid pulse. 

“Your heart rate is indeed a bit fast. Now, follow my lead. Take a deep breath, then let it out slowly and steadily…”

“Hss—hoo…” Sister Jing followed along.

“Yes, just like that.”

“Let’s do it again.”

“Hss… hoo—”

“How do you feel… is your breathing a bit smoother?”

At last, Xiao Fang couldn’t help but cut in, “Dr. Lin, Sister Jing is struggling to breathe—can she really take such deep breaths?”

Lu Dongnuan immediately straightened her face and adopted an authoritative tone, “Out, out, who’s the doctor here, you or me? Didn’t I just say we need to closely monitor her breathing?”

Xiao Fang was stumped, muttering, “…Oh.”

After the “examination,” Lu Dongnuan kept up the act by solemnly writing a list of medications and equipment needed.

The two men took the note and scrutinized it. 

To seem more professional, Lu Dongnuan had added lots of complex symbols and cryptic abbreviations—even a real doctor would shake their head.

They read from left to right, from top to bottom, frowning deeper as they went.

“Did you… write this upside down?” Xiao Fang hesitated, turning the note the other way.

“No idea. What’s this ‘~~’ supposed to be?” Zhuo Lei pointed at the note’s doodle-like markings.

“Hss, this is deep.” The two of them stared at the note as if reading an ancient script, sinking into deep thought.

Finally, they put down the note at the same time, and looked at Lu Dongnuan with firm resolve, speaking in unison: “No idea what this means!”

“That’s exactly right!” Lu Dongnuan let out a long breath in her heart, but maintained her professional smile. 

“That means you need a professional.”

“Then Dr. Lin should come with me to get the medicines and equipment,” Zhuo Lei decided immediately. 

“Xiao Fang, you look after Sister Jing.”

“Okay.”

“No.” Lu Dongnuan blurted out almost instinctively.

“Wait… huh?” Zhuo Lei was taken aback. 

“Is there a problem, Dr. Lin?”

“A bit of a problem.” Lu Dongnuan cursed herself for being too quick, but on the surface, she pushed up her imaginary glasses with a grave expression. 

“It’s the environment… uh, it’s not easy to find these things.”

“Huh? I don’t get it.” Zhuo Lei looked puzzled.

On the side, Xiao Fang suddenly slapped his thigh, having figured it out. 

“Oh! Dr. Lin means, the pharmacy is on the first floor, and the first floor is too dangerous—it’s not easy to find things there!”

Lu Dongnuan gave Xiao Fang an approving look and nodded slightly.

Zhuo Lei’s gaze shifted between the two before settling on Lu Dongnuan’s face.

“Precisely because it’s dangerous, we need you even more. We can’t tell medicines apart.”

He fixed Lu Dongnuan with an unwavering stare, his tone brooking no refusal as his hand slid to the weapon at his waist.

Lu Dongnuan met his gaze in silence, then replied simply, “Understood.”

“We’ll take a farther staircase.”

“Alright.” Xiao Fang answered.

Lu Dongnuan glanced at the situation below—the first floor was even more disastrous than she’d imagined.

Broken glass, overturned shelves, and dried, blackened blood made up the main palette. 

Countless staggering figures moved in the shadows. 

The air was thick with the stench of rot. Going down meant almost certain death.

She had no idea what this man was thinking. 

In such circumstances, the right thing to do was all too clear.

She swallowed back her final words and silently followed Zhuo Lei.

The two of them entered the staff passage one after the other. 

The fire door behind them closed, sealing off nearly all outside noise.

The passage was exceptionally narrow, with only a few emergency lights overhead casting a ghastly white glow, illuminating the ceiling crisscrossed by pipes and wires.

Zhuo Lei walked steadily, but deliberately slowed his pace, maintaining a half-step lead over Lu Dongnuan.

He didn’t look back, and his voice sounded muffled in the confined corridor.

“Dr. Lin,” he paused, “just now, were you really just treating her?” he asked abruptly.

Lu Dongnuan’s heart clenched, but her voice remained calm, “Brother Lei, what do you mean? Sister Jing’s condition did need attention.”

Zhuo Lei stopped, turning slowly. 

In the harsh white light, his gaze grew utterly strange—a cold, almost ferocious glint churning in his eyes.

“I’ll put it to you straight,” he lowered his voice, each word hissing with threat, “we have to escape on our own.”

“Of course we do. In times like this, you can’t rely on anyone else,” she feigned ignorance.

Zhuo Lei let out a scornful snort, his gaze as sharp as a poisoned blade.

“Heh. Dr. Lin, you’re smart. You know what I mean.”

Seeing Lu Dongnuan remain silent, he continued, “I know what you’re thinking. There’s someone outside, isn’t there? Don’t get your hopes up. With all that racket when those zombies broke in, that person’s probably already run off.” He drew a knife and pressed it to Lu Dongnuan’s throat.

“You’ve only got two options: come with me, or…” He gave her a leering once-over, flicking open one of her buttons with the knife and leaning close to her ear. “Or… I’ll deal with you right here, nice and slow.”

Lu Dongnuan instinctively retreated, her back hitting the cold wall.

This man had probably planned to escape alone from the start. 

Now he was taking her only because he thought a doctor might be useful. 

This hastily formed team, just as she’d guessed from the beginning, was too fragile to survive a real blow.