Jian Jing gave a start.
An emergency room massacre? That meant a bloody incident was about to happen here? What should she do, run?
The instinct for survival and latent fear took control of her, and her legs moved to leave this place immediately.
The system did not stop her.
But after taking two steps, she stopped for some reason and hesitantly asked herself, "Can I run away?"
[You can. The host is just an ordinary person, protecting yourself is also a responsible act, but the score is low, only 1 point of courage is rewarded.]
It would be good enough to save my life, who cares about courage points?
Jian Jing was not greedy, but still asked: "Did you issue this task because you think I can solve it?"
[The criminal act has not yet begun. If the host can find the perpetrator and stop it in advance, there is a certain probability of completing this task.]
Jian Jing was stunned for a moment.
Of course she could run away on her legs, stay away from this dangerous place, but the people left behind would remain unaware. When the massacre happens later, how many people would lose their lives?
Thinking of this, she could not convince herself to leave.
But making up her mind to get involved was also extremely difficult.
She had died once already, and did not want to lose her life again. Why did it have to be her? She was just an ordinary person.
Jian Jing hesitated back and forth, but in the end still could not turn around and leave.
Let me try first. If it’s dangerous, I’ll run. That way I won’t seem heartless. She brainwashed herself for three minutes, and tried to pay attention to every person using her newly acquired observation skill.
It was hard to imagine that the sick and bedridden could cause something as sensational as a "massacre", so Jian Jing first ruled out most of the patients.
The doctors and nurses were all busy without even lifting their heads, although they occasionally had bad tempers, there was no reason for them to kill anyone here.
After quickly ruling out these two groups for now, the accompanying family members became the most suspicious group. With critically ill relatives, pent-up emotions, they were extremely likely to act impulsively and produce irreparable harm.
Therefore, Jian Jing eventually identified several more suspicious people.
Suspect No. 1, a father in his thirties with a child, sturdy, loud voice, just yelled at the nurse several times for not injecting his child properly with a needle.
This kind of emotionally volatile person is more likely to act recklessly.
Based on his characteristics, his codename is Husky Father.
Suspect No. 2, a quarreling man at the payment window shouting aggressively at the cashier: "Why do you want so much money? Are you trying to take advantage and scam our money? Let me tell you, don't even think about scamming me."
A circle of people had already gathered around them. Some were anxious to pay and argued with him: "Make way, other people still need to pay."
"Get lost. If I don't get a satisfactory explanation today, no one will get anything done." The man sneered coldly.
Seeing the conflict about to escalate, he is a key person to watch closely. Codename: Payment Man.
Suspect No. 3, several suspicious figures lingering around the entrance of the emergency room. There were both men and women, all with hemp rope tied around them, holding memorial tablets, raising banners with the eight characters "Quack doctors harm people, we want justice."
The first two were still in the conflict stage, this one was clearly a medical disturbance, also with major suspicions. Let's call them the Medical Disturbers.
Who was most likely to cause bloodshed?
No. 1 Husky Father had a sturdy physique and strength to injure people. No. 2 Payment Man had already started arguing, more like the one about to erupt. While No. 3, the few people, came prepared...
They all seemed suspicious, all very likely.
Jian Jing racked her brains for a long time, but was unable to analyze the exact answer.
Left with no other option, she decided to change her line of thinking.
First of all, the premise of a massacre was a violent incident occurring. No matter how strong one person's strength, bare-handed they could only cause limited harm.
If the weapons could be dealt with, the accident might not be prevented, but the damage could be reduced to a minimum.
Jian Jing quickly surveyed the entire emergency room. To be honest, there were not many things that could cause great damage. Sharp medical instruments like surgical knives were almost none, only needles, scissors, catheters at most.
Some patients did have some fruit knives in their hands.
The biggest one was being held by a girl who was peeling an apple for her boyfriend.
Jian Jing felt the ham sausage in her pocket, and had an idea. She walked over and asked, "Excuse me, could I borrow that fruit knife for a moment?"
The girl had finished peeling the apple. Seeing the borrower was another young and pretty girl, she was not wary: "Sure, here you go."
"Thank you, I'll return it to you in a bit." Jian Jing held the instant noodles and ham sausage, made a circle, and went straight into the stairwell.
She planned to hide here for a while.
The chances of a massacre happening in a stairwell were relatively low, and no one would rush here to grab a weapon. Even if she still couldn't prevent it, avoiding the crowd meant she wouldn't get caught up in it.
But was taking this fruit knife really useful?
She sat on the steps, fiddling with the small knife. Of the knives in the emergency room just now, this one was the biggest, but still only half a palm long. Let alone the blade not being very sharp, even if it stabbed into someone's body, how many people could it kill?
Don't forget, the system's description was "horrific" and "reduce casualties", implying there would be multiple victims.
It was too early to relax now.
Jian Jing bit her finger, trying to stimulate all her brain cells to think.
She had never studied detective work or investigation, the only thing she was good at was making up stories, so she might as well continue the story and see.
Suppose the fruit knife was the murder weapon, how did things unfold?
The weapon was not a prepared knife, most likely a crime of passion. The perpetrator got into an argument with someone, then grabbed the nearest fruit knife and stabbed them.
What then? He impulsively committed a crime, and must be very flustered. Would he still think to keep killing more people?
No, that's not right.
What about the couple then?
They didn't seem like it either. Although she had only caught a glimpse of them earlier, with the effects of the Observation Card she still quickly gathered some information about them.
The IV drip patient wore clover sneakers, well-off family. The girl's backpack was to the side, with a textbook corner exposed, and a student ID hanging next to it. They were college students.
The girl was peeling an apple for her boyfriend, seemed like they had a stable relationship, no reason to commit a crime.
So she must have guessed wrong.
This fruit knife was not the murder weapon.
She had to return to the emergency room for further investigation.
Jian Jing didn't care for a bite of her soggy instant noodles, her mind completely occupied by her brain. She wasn't even feeling hungry in her stomach. She hesitated, then gritted her teeth and went back.
First return the fruit knife to the girl. The timing was right, the IV drip for the boy was finished, and the nurse was removing the needle. After they were done, the young couple left the infusion room hand in hand.
She immediately observed the 3 suspects she had identified earlier.
Suspect No. 1 Husky Father had calmed down. His child was curled up asleep in the mother's arms. The couple spoke softly to each other. Having lost the fuse, his suspicion level suddenly dropped.
Suspect No. 2 Payment Man was still cursing aggressively. A security guard stood in front of him, a nurse was negotiating with him, other people continued lining up to pay, back to normal.
Keep observing.
Suspect No. 3 Medical Disturbers maintained their original state, also keep observing.
Jian Jing kept them in sight with her peripheral vision, while dividing out half her attention to observe other people she had filtered out as less suspicious. After all her skills were limited, screening roughly may have overlooked key information. Checking them one by one was safer.
However, things did not go as desired.
"Woo woo woo—" the ambulance came blaring its siren.
The stretcher was swiftly carried down and into the emergency room, adding another layer of clamor to the already extremely noisy place. And the people following the stretcher made more than a few frown.
These were several brawny young men reeking of alcohol. One had tattoos on his arm, followed by two other burly friends. As soon as they entered, they shouted, "If you can't cure him today, I'll smash up this lousy hospital!"
Jian Jing: "..." What arrogance.
Thinking you're the emperor? I'll take your head?
But setting aside the sarcasm, her vigilance had already climbed to the highest level.
"Who do you think you are, spewing nonsense like that?" Another tall, thin man coming in spoke what everyone was thinking, glaring at the tattooed man in disdain. "If you hadn't lost your mind, this wouldn't have happened!"
"You're the one who made the first move and you still think you're right?" The tattooed man was furious.
The tall man retorted, "I didn't push her. If you hadn't flipped the table, she wouldn't have crashed into it like that."
"You bastard!" The tattooed man charged forward in a stride, swinging his fist.
The tall man warded it off with his arm, and kicked fiercely.
Seeing the two about to break into open fighting in the lobby, a hoarse, indifferent female voice sounded: "What's the fuss? This is a hospital, take your dispute to the police station."
"You old bitch—" The tattooed man was extremely irritable, turning his head to curse.
Jian Jing's heart suddenly clenched, afraid blood would be drawn inadvertently.
Fortunately the security guard reacted quickly, moving to stand in front of the female doctor to block them from getting near her.
The female doctor didn't seem to be facing this kind of situation for the first time. She calmly asked, "Still want to save him or not? If you do, family members come sign the form. If not, feel free to keep arguing."
The tattooed man had lost his previous momentum, still acting tough only verbally: "I'll sign! Doctor Hao Mei, I'll remember you."
Doctor Hao ignored him completely, taking out the consent form and pointing to the bottom line: "Sign here."
The tattooed man clumsily signed his name.
The female doctor nodded calmly, calling to the young girl following her: "Xiao He, come with me for surgery."
The girl who had clearly just graduated not long ago lit up, nodding repeatedly, eagerly attending to the female doctor into the operating room.
The tattooed man and the tall thin man fell back into their old rut, occupying opposite sides of the entrance, neither letting the other through, continuing their standoff.
"If anything happens to my sister, be prepared to pay with your life!"
"Don't try pinning this on me, she fell herself, it's got nothing to do with me!"
Both sides remained deadlocked.
Jian Jing stood in the furthest corner, pondering whether to call the police: This group looked emotionally volatile, and had strength in numbers, very fitting for a massacre scenario. Reporting them now for "disturbance", having the police take them away, wouldn't that prevent the tragedy from occurring?
But she still had some concerns.
After calling the police, they would definitely ask who made the call. This bunch didn't look easy to deal with, what if they retaliated against her? If they really were the perpetrators of the massacre, she could grit her teeth even if they did come after her.
But what if they weren't?
Would the police coming stimulate the real killer? She would have offended people for no reason, and caused the situation to become even worse.
But on the other hand, what if the police presence could deter the killer, making him abandon his plot?
Both acting and not acting had reasonable grounds, and both could result in terrible outcomes. Jian Jing truly could not judge which option to choose.
