Chapter 2

"Doctor, quick, save him!" A truck driver rushed into the emergency room, cradling the unconscious Chen Tianming. At first, the truck driver thought Chen Tianming was dead, but upon checking, he noticed a breath coming through his nose and hurriedly brought him to the hospital. "Hurry, take him to the emergency room!" A group of doctors and nurses started to bustle about frantically. "Quick, the patient is bleeding profusely, get ready for a transfusion," a doctor instructed an assistant nearby. "But, we can't find out his blood type; perhaps it's a machine error," the assistant shook his head. The patient's blood sample had failed to reveal its type upon testing. The only explanation seemed to be malfunctioning hospital equipment. "So, so..." Faced with such a dilemma, even the doctor started to feel the headache brewing. "Doctor, the patient's heart rate is plummeting, it seems like it's about to stop," a nurse reported from in front of the heart monitor. "What," the doctor yelled and began to use the defibrillator on Chen Tianming's chest in desperation. "Doctor, the patient's heartbeat is accelerating," the nurse called out anxiously, watching the fluttering heart rate monitor. Upon hearing this, the doctor set down the equipment and turned to his assistant: "Have we found the patient's family? This, this patient may not make it." The turn of events was extraordinary, unlike anything the doctor had faced in his twenty-plus years of practice. The patient was severely bleeding, yet they couldn't identify his blood type to give him a transfusion. A single wrong transfusion could tarnish his reputation built up over many years. And most critical was the patient's heartbeat: now rapid enough to dazzle onlookers, now seemingly ceasing altogether along with his breathing, only to, after a moment, start beating again. "Doctor, it seems like the patient's heartbeat has stopped again," the nurse sounded the alarm once more. The doctor, hearing this, grabbed the defibrillator and again assaulted Chen Tianming's chest with electricity. But this time, to no avail; Chen Tianming's heart was slowing to a stop. "Sigh, I'm at my wit's end. Prepare to notify the family for the aftermath," the doctor said with a resigned shake of his head as he left the emergency room. "Doctor, how's the patient?" the truck driver anxiously awaited outside. "He's beyond help," the doctor declared. "What? I'm finished, my life's over!" the driver collapsed into a nearby chair. Back in the emergency room, where Chen Tianming had previously been fighting for his life, the flatline on the heart monitor suddenly sparked back into a rhythm. Meanwhile, on the hospital bed, Chen Tianming's previously bleeding wound was mysteriously healing, and his pallor, once ashen as a corpse's, regained a healthy hue as if some revival spell had been cast upon him. Bit by bit, Chen Tianming, who looked almost dead moments ago, seemed like nothing more than a man peacefully sleeping. "How did I end up here, where am I?" Chen Tianming rose slowly, surveying his surroundings and muttering to himself. "That's right, I remember getting hit by a car, but now I feel perfectly fine, like I haven't been hit at all." Chen Tianming swung his arms, feeling no pain or hindrance. "Hey, beautiful, where am I?" Chen Tianming cheerfully addressed a nurse who was busy writing plainly in front of him. "A ghost!" The nurse screamed in terror. There she was, filling out Chen Tianming's death report, when the messy-haired supposed corpse sat upright, asking her where he was? "A ghost? Where?" Chen Tianming himself jumped back onto the bed in fear upon hearing the nurse's shout. Daytime ghosts are no ordinary matter; they don't dare to show themselves in daylight, just like in the movies. "You, you're not dead?" the nurse, used to the sight of death, now started to believe the figure before her was indeed a living person. "You're the one who's dead!" Chen Tianming sneered at the now-utterly-ignored beauty of a nurse — although she was certainly attractive, he couldn't compromise on such a critical issue. If he was dead, then all the beauty and wealth in the world would have dissipated into nothingness. "Doctor, the dead has risen, doctor, the dead has risen!" the nurse shouted as she ran out. Ah, another beauty lost to the wrong profession, Chen Tianming thought, shaking his head. Her screams could have made her famous at any national contest; she was sure to go viral. "Where's the living dead, where's the living dead?" In a moment, the doctor bustled in, his excitement evident. "I'm a living person, not one of the living dead." Chen Tianming scoffed at the doctor, thinking that the hospital staff really needed better training. "Dead has risen," indeed! Could a dead person come back to life? One who comes back isn't dead. And now calling him "living dead," pah, he'd only heard of living fossils; living dead existed merely in horror flicks. "Quick, run a check, do a full-body scan," the doctor instructed the nurse, disregarding Chen Tianming's comments. After a while, the nurse reported, "Doctor, a preliminary examination shows the patient is normal in all aspects." "What? Completely normal?" the doctor was dumbfounded. "Alright, then I must think, what did I do to revive him? This must be documented; it might be worth sharing at national, no, international medical conferences." The doctor saw his chance; the opportunity to make a name for himself had come. If he could just reveal to the world how he 'revived' someone medically declared dead, wouldn't it serve as proof of his superior medical skills? "I must think about this, reflect deeply." The overjoyed doctor paced the emergency room, shaking and scratching his head like a madman. He knew that if he even hinted at his method of reviving a dead man to the outside world, he would undoubtedly be recognized with something like a medical academy fellowship. His chance for promotion and fortune had arrived. Then the women and the money, luxurious cars and grandeur, all would come his way. "Eh, where's the patient?" The doctor suddenly checked the bedside, only to realize that the most crucial component, the man he had 'revived,' was missing. He began shouting madly, much like before. Seeing the doctor in his frenzy, Chen Tianming quietly exited the emergency room since the beautiful nurse had declared him fit as a fiddle. "You're alright?" The driver leaped up happily when he saw Chen Tianming emerge. "I'm fine," Chen Tianming said, feeling unusually robust as if he could take on a tiger—or perhaps handle a vivacious duo, if such an opportunity presented itself. "That's good; it wasn't my intention to hit you, it's just that you came out of nowhere." "Forget it, I'm fine. But what about the medical expenses?" This was a crucial issue, and Chen Tianming had to inquire. "I'll pay, as long as you're fine," the driver assured, patting his still-throbbing chest. The man was decent; anyone else would already be demanding a large sum for compensation. "Then I'll trouble you," Chen Tianming replied. "No trouble, no trouble at all," said the profusely sweating driver. "Heavens, I have to go back for a meeting at school, my perfect attendance bonus!" Chen Tianming suddenly recalled that critical bit of business and dashed off. By the time Chen Tianming returned to his school, it was evening. His clothes stained with blood, he took a shower in his room and changed, intending to explain to Principal Li the genuine reason for his absence: It wasn't that he skipped the meeting; he was involved in a car accident and couldn't make it back. "Principal Li, hello," Chen Tianming greeted as he closed his room's door, spotting Principal Li of his school walking by. "Teacher Chen, why didn't you attend the meeting this afternoon?" An anger-tinged Principal Li, short of stature, with a mouth of yellow teeth, barraged Chen Tianming with questions. On the very day the county education bureau representatives were to visit, the teacher he personally disliked the most was the only one absent. It seemed like an intentional slight. In truth, Principal Li's disdain for Chen Tianming wasn't due to the latter's looks; Chen Tianming was, in fact, quite handsome, standing at 1.78m tall with thick eyebrows, attractive eyes, and a straight nose. Rumor had it that he was the most popular male teacher in the school. This was precisely the reason for Principal Li's ire. Why should Chen Tianming be the school's most beloved male? That honor should belong to him, the head of the school. "Principal, I had a car accident on the way back this afternoon," Chen Tianming said cautiously with a smile on his face. The one person he couldn't stand in the school was this irresponsible principal who cared more about his own leisure than school management. But now, caught in a compromising situation, he had to tread carefully. "A car accident? Chen Tianming, you're not a student anymore. I can't believe you'd resort to such an excuse." "It's true, Principal, I was hit by a car," Chen Tianming urged, seeing the disbelief on the principal's face. "Really? Where were you hit? Are you injured?" "I, I'm not hurt," Chen Tianming shook his head. "Not hurt, and you call that getting hit by a car?" "But I bled, there was a lot of blood on my clothes." "Really? Chen Tianming, do you take me for a three-year-old child? Hit by a car, bleeding a lot but unharmed, do you imagine that you can perform magic, impervious to knives and guns, like an immortal?" Principal Li pointed angrily at Chen Tianming's nose and berated him. Did Chen Tianming think him a fool? "I, I…" At a loss for words, Chen Tianming didn't know how to continue. Yes, his clothes were bloodied, but why was he unharmed? The events of the day were permeated with oddities. First, after being bitten by a bug that resembled an ant, he'd passed out for over two hours, then woke up to find the bug dead. Later, while trying to hitch a ride back to school, he was hit by a car, but emerged without a scratch, just bloodstained clothes. Whose blood was it then? If it was his own, why didn't he feel uncomfortable anywhere? Earlier, in his room, he'd checked in the mirror and saw no wounds. If it wasn't his blood, then whose could it be? Chen Tianming wondered. "Chen Tianming, have you run out of excuses?" Principal Li was pleased to have seemingly outsmarted Chen Tianming. "Principal Li, listen to me—ouch," Chen Tianming suddenly clutched at his thigh, feeling a burning pain where the bug had bitten him that afternoon. "What's the matter?" Principal Li was startled by Chen Tianming's outcry and also by his peculiar clenching and shifting. "Nothing, nothing," Chen Tianming hastily shook his head, not daring to confess the pain in his lower regions to Principal Li. Besides, the pain that had just hit him like a truck suddenly seemed to have eased. "Chen Tianming, stop playing tricks. As you missed today's meeting, you forfeit this month's perfect attendance bonus," Principal Li declared angrily and departed. "No bonus? Big deal," Chen Tianming spat defiantly after the principal's retreating figure. Sighing, Chen Tianming lamented the loss of his two hundred yuan perfect attendance bonus.