Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 81 Diagnosis
The first to hear the dull thud was Watson, who lived next door.

He paused, a bad feeling creeping over him.

He immediately rushed out and tentatively called out "Boss" from outside the door, but there was no response from inside.

The door wasn't locked, and Watson opened it.

Zhuang Fan lay face down on the cement floor, motionless, the panel on his wrist still glowing faintly.

"Boss!"

He was startled and rushed forward to carefully turn Zhuang Fan over.

He first checked Zhuang Fan's breathing, then pressed his fingers on Zhuang Fan's carotid artery.

Breathing is steady, and heartbeat is strong.

Watson breathed a slight sigh of relief, but Zhuang Fan's eyes were tightly closed, his face was pale, and he did not respond no matter how he called out to him.

At that moment, Hua Xin appeared at the door.

Her hearing was much more acute than Watson's; even though she was on the first floor, she caught a strange sound of something falling to the ground.

"Brother, what's wrong with him?" Hua Xin asked, her eyes wide.

"I don't know, the boss suddenly fainted."

Watson gestured for her to close the door, his voice low and tinged with anxiety.

Hua Xin closed the door tightly and locked it from the inside.

Then, the two of them worked together to lift Zhuang Fan onto the bed.

His body was very heavy.

As soon as they were settled, the panel on Zhuang Fan's wrist lit up, revealing Chu Ningyan's face wearing a tactical mask.

"What's his situation?" Her voice carried a hint of barely perceptible seriousness.

Watson picked up the panel, adjusted the angle, and aimed it at Zhuang Fan on the bed. "I still don't know, I can't wake up the boss at all."

"Check the pupils first."

Watson nodded, carefully opened his eyelids, and shone a flashlight into his pupils.

The pupil constricts instantly upon exposure to light.

"With normal reflexes and intact brainstem function, this shouldn't be the worst-case scenario."

He checked Zhuang Fan's breathing and heartbeat again. "His breathing is steady, and his heartbeat is strong. He seems to be in a deep sleep."

Watson emphasized, "But no matter how much we shake him, he doesn't react at all."

On the other end of the communication panel, Chu Ningyan remained silent for a moment, rapidly analyzing all the possibilities.

"This doesn't look like a medical coma."

She finally spoke: "It's more like a self-protection mechanism."

"Self-protection?" Hua Xin repeated.

"But it's not certain yet."

"Should we send it to the city?" she asked her brother, her face full of worry.

"No."

Watson flatly refused: "Our boss is a wanted criminal now. There are nuclear informants everywhere. Besides, he has secrets. Sending him into the city is too risky."

At this moment, he suddenly stopped speaking and turned his gaze to the light screen: "Team Leader Grey Goose, do you have a solution?"

Chu Ningyan shook her head: "I'm not sure either. Now citizens are also checked when entering the city, which is very risky."

Just when Watson and his sister were at their wits' end, her voice rang out again: "Wait for me, I'll be there later."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "First, switch the Wasteland Traveler to 'vital signs monitoring' mode. Pay attention to his heart rate, blood oxygen, and body temperature. Notify me if any data is abnormal. Remember, do not move him unnecessarily."

"Understood." Watson did as instructed immediately.

The panel on Zhuang Fan's wrist switched to the monitoring interface, displaying three stable waveform curves.

The people at the base were unaware that Zhuang Fan was in trouble, and the Hua siblings decided to continue keeping it a secret.

Late at night, everything is silent.

A black hovercar glided to the vicinity of the recycling station, and two figures got off the car.

Beside Chu Ningyan was a short-haired woman, also dressed in black combat gear, who moved with practiced efficiency.

"Her name is Pipi, and she's one of my people," Chu Ningyan's introduction was concise and to the point.

"Hello."

Pipi nodded slightly to Hua Sheng and his sister, as if to say hello.

Hua Xin reported the latest situation: "Sister Yan, Brother Ya suddenly has a high fever." Chu Ningyan stepped forward, took off her tactical gloves, and placed the back of her hand on Zhuang Fan's forehead.

She frowned slightly; her face was a little hot.

She turned around and took a heavy metal briefcase from Pipi's hands.

Inside was a weathered brainwave spectrum analyzer, an old-fashioned military model, its casing covered in scratches, but its performance was still very reliable.

"Pipi, get ready."

"Yes."

Pipi moved swiftly, unfolding more than a dozen shielded cables and then attaching the electrodes one by one to Zhuang Fan's scalp.

Chu Ningyan turned on the host, and the display screen lit up, with irregular waveform curves jumping wildly on the screen.

She stared intently at the screen, her expression gradually becoming serious.

"strangeness."

She murmured to herself, "His brainwave activity did not decrease due to his coma; on the contrary, it was more than ten times more active than when he was awake."

Watson and his sister quickly came over.

Chu Ningyan pointed to an unusually sharp waveform on the screen and said softly:

“Here, an ultra-high frequency band that has never been seen before has appeared. This is not a brainwave that humans should have.”

Hua Xin scratched her head, as if she wasn't human anymore, and humbly asked, "Sister Yan, will Brother Ya be alright?"

Chu Ningyan did not answer directly.

At this moment, Zhuang Fan's brainwave activity was more than thirty times higher than when he was awake, and the main instrument was constantly alarming.

Everyone present fell silent, which was very unusual.

"Zizi..."

Just then, the Wasteland Traveler on her wrist suddenly sounded an alarm.

[Warning! High concentration of eerie fog detected!]

The Hua siblings' expressions changed slightly.

Chu Ningyan's gaze fell on Zhuang Fan. The concentration of the eerie mist inside his head had reached a terrifying level, enough to cause any living being to mutate.

But he didn't.

"His brain never rests; his thinking is unusually active. He is neither sick nor injured; he may be waging a war that we cannot understand."

This is the only way Chu Ningyan can describe it.

She put away the equipment, stood up, and whispered to Watson and his sister, "Continue to observe him. Remember not to move him easily. Notify me if there are any abnormalities."

"We will."

"Also, try to keep your scavenging area away from Linhai City. Choose a place that is far away."

"clear."

Chu Ningyan and Pipi didn't linger and quickly drove away in their hovercar.

They flew illegally, erasing all traces of their location, but staying there for an extended period could still cause problems.

Only Watson and his sister remained in the room.

Watson said, "Go and rest. We still need to scavenge tomorrow. Leave this to me."

Hua Xin nodded and turned to leave.

Watson pulled a folding bed from the corner, placed it beside the bed, and lay down, keeping a close eye on Zhuang Fan's condition.

The next day, the sun rose as usual.

Zhuang Fan was still unconscious, but his high fever had subsided.

After discussing it, Watson and his sister decided to continue to conceal the situation from their eldest brother in order to avoid undermining morale.

Hua Xin and Ke Er, along with their scavenging team, drove their truck out as usual.

Xiong Er guarded the warehouse, while Gage continued to reinforce the warehouse's outer walls.

Everything is running as usual.

Hua Xin led her team to a desolate wasteland.

She wasn't in a good mood today, and spent the whole time with her cat ears perked up, rummaging through the garbage with a crowbar.

Not long after the search began, her cat ears suddenly stood up.

(End of this chapter)