The Brain Science Case 12

Chapter 12: The Schizophrenic Executioner – 1

#Waking up in the middle of the night again, I cried until my pillow was soaked.

**

The emergency room was, as usual, filled with a tense and stressful atmosphere.

The little girl who had been admitted to the hospital yesterday had suddenly fallen into a coma after a night of observation.

“What’s going on?” A female doctor rushed over, pulling out a penlight.

“I don’t know… she was fine just a moment ago. Suddenly she stopped talking, and then the machine…” The girl’s father trembled, pointing at the monitor that was beeping incessantly.

“Is this the patient who was admitted yesterday afternoon?”

“Yes! Dr. Tang specifically told us to keep a close eye on her…”

“Her pupils are unequal… she’s gone into shock!” The doctor turned. “Get Dr. Tang! Someone go check on the availability of an operating room, now!”

The patient, Ge Ruxuan, nine years old. She was the last victim of the serial child abduction and murder case. During the arrest, she was pushed by the suspect, resulting in a head injury that led to a subsequent chronic intracranial hemorrhage.

Interrupting his rounds, Tang Zhichao rushed to the emergency room. “What’s the situation?”

“Her intracranial pressure suddenly spiked! GCS is E1, V1, M3!” (TN: GCS, or Glasgow Coma Scale, is used to assess a patient’s level of consciousness based on their eye-opening (E), verbal (V), and motor (M) responses.)

“Liqiong! How’s the OR?” he called out to the ER doctor who had just made the assessment.

“It’s free!”

“Good! Get her in there, now!”

The family was at a loss, but the medical staff moved swiftly. Intubation, an IV stand, and monitors were all in place as the hospital bed was wheeled from the ER down the hallway. Every action was urgent and precise. Staring at the little girl who now required manual ventilation, Tang Zhichao recalled his sister’s specific instructions from yesterday, her focused and careful attitude, as if she were treating the girl as her own family.

While monitoring the data on the screen, he reached into his pocket and made a call.

After three rings, a cheerful voice answered.

“Yingli.”

His tone was grave. “The little girl who was brought in yesterday is in trouble… chronic intracranial hemorrhage, her intracranial pressure is rising rapidly… I’m heading into surgery now. That’s all for now.”

As a neurosurgeon, from his internship all the way to becoming an attending physician, Tang Zhichao had been through countless surgeries, big and small. He deeply understood the fatal dangers that a brain contusion could cause.

But he understood even more the pressure he had to bear on his shoulders with every surgery.

It was the weight of a life.

He examined the CT scan of the brain, quickly and accurately locating the bleeding point. After changing into scrubs and going through a series of ritual-like hand washings, he entered the operating room wearing rubber gloves.

The bright, silvery light above the operating table illuminated the unconscious little girl.

“Heart rate 85, blood pressure 127/86…” the anesthesiologist reported the patient’s vitals. “Life signs are stable!”

He had never failed in surgery.

This time would be no different.

“Beginning the operation.”

**

Thanks to her day off, Zhou Jinglin was able to rush to the hospital immediately.

To accommodate her, Tang Yingli had been in such a hurry she hadn’t had time to change out of her dress, but her royal blue pants paired with a black ruffled blouse were still stylish. Her elegant and leisurely appearance was a stark contrast to Jinglin’s own rugged denim.

It wasn’t just their clothes that were a contrast, but their personalities and actions as well. “Where’s the operating room?”

Compared to her panic, Tang Yingli was like a seasoned veteran. “This way. Don’t worry. My brother is very experienced, and the surgery has already begun.”

“It doesn’t matter who’s operating. That little girl, Ge… she’s an important survivor!”

“Of course I know that. To prevent any sudden complications, I already asked my brother to pay special attention to her when she was admitted.” That phone call was proof that Tang Zhichao had not let her down.

“Wait, s-senior?” She finally noticed the strange and inexplicable form of address.

“Mm.”

The doctor’s surname was also Tang… “I thought he was your brother?”

She let out a small laugh. “Sorry. He is my brother.”

“Then why do you call him… senior?”

“Because we went to the same schools from elementary to high school.”

“Even so, it’s still weird!”

Tang Yingli had an “I knew you’d say that” expression as she continued, “My brother is very outstanding, you know. Even though we’re eight years apart, ever since elementary school, I’ve constantly felt the excessive attention his halo brought… whispers like, ‘Ah, that’s Tang Zhichao’s sister,’ or ‘She must be brilliant.’ That kind of pressure can be suffocating.”

Jinglin followed the hospital signs toward the operating room, but Tang Yingli pulled her in another direction. “This way!”

“But that’s…” for staff only, isn’t it?

“You can see the surgery from here.” As if by magic, she produced a key card and swiped it. The metal door slid open quietly.

Jinglin’s eyes widened. This woman… she’s ridiculously well-connected!

She glanced back with a smirk. “Your expression is priceless.”

They had entered without authorization, and a passing nurse was staring at them as if they were aliens. “Is this… really okay?”

“We’re just here to observe. It’s fine.”

Well, it wasn’t my idea. If we get in trouble, I’m not taking the blame.

“By the way, you were in the middle of saying something.”

“Hm? Oh! Because of the pressure, I came up with a solution.”

“A solution? Don’t tell me…” She had a vague idea. “You told people he wasn’t your brother, just a senior with the same last name!”

“Correct! You’re quick on the uptake.” Tang Yingli gave a playful wink. “It just became a habit after a while. And a lot of people actually believed he was just a senior with the same last name as me. If I went back to calling him brother, my cover would be blown, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s such a… but you are brilliant, aren’t you?”

“That’s now. Before I proved myself with my own achievements, my brother’s light completely overshadowed me.” Tang Yingli glanced at her and shrugged. “Understand now? Me, the smart, capable, and perfectly happy person in your eyes.”

Those were the words Jinglin had said to her earlier.

“No one’s life is perfect. No one.” She repeated the words, adding a layer of gravity to their walk.

They arrived at the observation room. In addition to a camera feed, they could also see the surgeon and the patient directly through a window.

But they weren’t the first to arrive.

“You’re… Sister Liqiong?”

Ren Liqiong turned, her face lighting up with surprise and joy when she saw who it was. “Yingli? You’re here!” She grabbed Tang Yingli, looking her over carefully. “It really… it really is you! I couldn’t believe it when Zhichao said you were back… How long has it been?”

Tang Yingli let her excitedly pull and tug at her. “The last time I came back was for my university graduation… about twelve years ago, right?”

“Twelve years, so long! You haven’t changed a bit! I’m so jealous…” She touched the baby-like face, her eyes catching sight of the other visitor. “Eh? And who is this?”

“Let me introduce you… This is Officer Zhou Jinglin, a member of the Criminal Investigation Division.”

Jinglin gave a slight nod. “Hello.” She looked up, and one of the cameras was zoomed in on the opened brain. The sight of the blood and the wrinkled, spherical organ forced her to immediately look away.

“An officer?” Ren Liqiong turned to Tang Yingli, confused. “How did you…”

“Well, I’m currently assisting the Criminal Investigation Division with a case. This little girl is one of the victims. Officer Zhou saved her and is especially, especially concerned about her condition, so we came over as soon as we got the call from my brother.”

“I see!” Her gaze toward Jinglin turned to one of admiration. “An intracranial hemorrhage is critical, but thankfully it was discovered early, and with Zhichao on the case… there’s absolutely no problem!” Her walkie-talkie suddenly crackled. “A new patient… I have to go back.”

It wasn’t until Ren Liqiong had left that Jinglin spoke. “So it’s not just your brother; you’re that close with other doctors too?”

“Her… she’s a bit… special.” Seeing Jinglin’s confusion, she answered, “She’s my brother’s ex-girlfriend. But I hear she’s married now.”

“Oh.”

Tang Yingli pushed up her glasses, her attention quickly drawn to the scene on the screen. “The bleeding is under the dura mater. You can see the occipital lobe… The cortex is so beautiful.”

“You can watch that?” She couldn’t bring herself to look at all.

“Mm. I’ve seen a living human brain before, though not as much as my brother… In the lab, we also dissected the brains of other animals to study their similarities to the human brain. I’ve even worked with split-brain patients!” Her tone was tinged with a hint of pride.

“Split-brain?”

“That’s when the bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum between the left and right hemispheres is completely severed, or only a small part, like the anterior commissure, is left, resulting in completely or almost completely separated left and right brains…” The words that came out of her mouth sounded like an alien language as Tang Yingli began to ramble on. “…It was used to treat life-threatening status epilepticus, but now it’s mostly managed with medication.”

Jinglin’s blank expression made her laugh. “A bit hard to understand, right? Sorry. But this is my specialty.”

“You and your brother… you’re both really into the brain, huh?”

“I guess you could say I was influenced? Ever since my brother started medical school, he’s been fascinated by the brain, and that’s when I got hooked too.”

But she hadn’t become a doctor. Instead, she had become a neuroscientist and a criminal profiler for law enforcement.

“Was it because you were afraid of the pressure that you didn’t go to medical school?” Jinglin couldn’t help but ask.

She shook her head decisively. “A doctor’s purpose is to save people. The reason I wanted to understand the brain was for something else.”

Jinglin suddenly remembered the unnatural smile on her face when she was talking to the murderer. She had instantly established a rapport with him and gotten a response.

Including the content of their conversation, that must have all been part of a criminal profiler’s technique.

“The ‘something else’ you mentioned… it must not be something happy, right?” Even if it was something that had affected her entire life, she refused to speak of it.

“That’s right.” She gave a faint smile and continued to watch the surgery intently.

Hearing her response, Jinglin felt a pang of defeat.

The defeat of being excluded.

But why she felt defeated… she didn’t know.