I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 104

A staffer followed and briefly explained, “These people have worked at Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital for many years. They’re familiar with the hospital’s past and present. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them!”

Jing Qizhen understood the staffer’s intent but truthfully, he didn’t have any urgent questions to ask.

It felt like they were about to take a test in a few hours, surrounded by teachers ready to help with last-minute prep.

The problem was, the person writing the test wasn’t there. Any random question was unlikely to match the actual test content. Moreover, Jing Qizhen and the others were so unfamiliar with the hospital that they didn’t even know what to ask.

Jing Qizhen opened politely, “Are there any major incidents at the hospital you recall? Could you tell us a bit about what happened at the time?”

Even though the chances were slim that the information would help, it was still better to ask than not.

Jing Qizhen and his group exchanged friendly greetings and had a warm conversation with the old hospital staff.

Meanwhile, the road in front of the hospital had already been sealed off.

Other than ambulances constantly transporting patients to other hospitals, all other vehicles were prohibited from entering.

Despite this, near the roadblock, several journalists and cameramen with microphones and large cameras were trying to push their microphones into the mouths of the traffic police, shouting into the cold wind, “Just now, both the Binhai City government and the Second Municipal Hospital issued an emergency notice saying an erosion area is about to appear. They’re asking all civilians to evacuate immediately and avoid entering the blocked area. How long will this lockdown last? What’s the current situation inside the hospital? Can you explain what exactly an erosion area is?”

Previously, when customers at the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store mysteriously disappeared, it made the news, and since it was confirmed to be a ‘paranormal event,’ the coverage was fairly extensive. That incident marked the first time an erosion area entered the public consciousness.

However, for most people, their deeply ingrained worldview hadn’t changed. Unless someone followed all the news about the department store incident from start to finish, the general public probably still thought that it’d end up being like those episodes of ‘Approaching Science’ that always concluded with a bizarre and anticlimactic explanation, even if it was real.

As for the erosion area in the remote Shennongjia village, its societal impact was minimal due to its isolated location.

This time, though, the erosion area appeared in the old building of Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital. Combined with the large-scale patient transfers, roadblocks by police, and safety precautions to prevent civilians from accidentally entering, the news instantly exploded.

It wasn’t just the journalists rushing in to report. Local residents, travelers staying nearby, and people in town for business were all filming video clips through their hotel windows, braving the cold with their phones…

People had experienced danger before but they had never seen such a grand scene, like a celebrity event with camera crews and reporters packed together.

The last time Jin Guijuan felt this level of shock was when she had just returned from the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store erosion area and was suddenly surrounded by Tang Song’s team in full protective suits.

It was now 8:30 p.m.

The staff were clearly overwhelmed, scrambling to coordinate all aspects of the operation. They had remembered to invite the hospital’s retired senior staff to gather information but somehow forgot that neither they nor Jing Qizhen’s group had eaten dinner.

Fortunately, the manager of the chain hotel recognized Manman as a high-tier VIP customer. The hotel even had her lodging habits and dietary preferences on record. When the manager found a moment to hesitantly approach and inquire, Manman casually ordered five-star level boxed meals not only for their group but also for the busy government staff, hospital workers, and police on-site.

As for Caroline, David, and Joyce, the staff had already booked rooms for them at the hotel.

However, the three foreigners were still immersed in the novelty of observing and joining Jing Qizhen and the others’ planning. The usually pampered young masters and miss had dropped their usual pickiness, now quietly holding their boxed meals and watching the group with curious eyes.

The keys and access cards to the various departments and floors of the hospital, as well as white lab coats and ID badges for medical staff, were brought over by the deputy director in charge of logistics.

Jing Qizhen and his teammates quickly set aside their half-eaten meals to distribute the items appropriately.

Looking at the detailed supply list in the deputy director’s hand, Jing Qizhen suddenly had a thought and asked, “Does the hospital’s internal system have login accounts and passwords?”

The current hospital director quickly responded, “Yes. I’ll give you my account and password! Oh, and there’s also the electronic K-token. Some systems require inserting a USB key to log in. You know about that, right?”

Si Jiayang immediately said, “I know.”

The current director and deputy director handed over their accounts, passwords and U-keys. The meticulous deputy director even hand-wrote the information on the printed list.

Later, staff from the Health Bureau and Drug Administration also brought over ID badges and blank red-headed documents that had already been officially stamped.

One staff member handed a printed statement to Jing Qizhen, indicating he should sign it.

Just as Jing Qizhen was about to pick up the pen, the staff member suddenly remembered something and quickly said, “Our director said Tang Song’s name has to be signed too!”

Jing Qizhen paused slightly, holding the pen.

Beside him, Lu Lingxi immediately called Tang Song.

Tang Song cooperatively and calmly said to Jing Qizhen with a smile, “Just sign it. I’ll take responsibility for anything you sign today.”

Jing Qizhen didn’t hesitate. “Alright.”

Then he directly wrote ‘Tang Song (signed by Jing Qizhen)’ at the bottom of the document and asked, “Is this okay?”

The staff member nodded quickly, then stored the signed document safely and left the blank red-headed papers behind.

Jing Qizhen flipped through them and discovered that not only were there standard A4-sized documents but even older B5-sized ones and some nearly transparent sheets that looked like they were decades old.

Seeing the yellowed, brittle pages that spanned decades, everyone looked at each other. The B5 was already surprising enough but those translucent ones were a real feat to have found.

The staff member smiled shyly, “We dug them out from the waste paper pile in the mailroom…”

That’s the one advantage of an old institution that hasn’t moved buildings in decades. You never know what strange things you’ll find lying around.

Jing Qizhen and the others: “…”

They once again distributed the items and carried them with them, all while listening to stories about past events at the hospital from the current director and the retired senior staff.

Around 10 p.m., the tech department made an emergency call. The voice on the line was urgent, “There’s a significant discrepancy between the modeled data and the real-time monitoring data!”

Everyone’s hearts sank.

If the discrepancy between calculated and real-time data is within an acceptable range, the model is considered reliable.

But once that gap exceeds the limit, it usually means the model’s output is no longer valid.

This also implied that their previous estimate of when the new erosion area would form could be off.

Jing Qizhen immediately decided, “Let’s wait inside the old building!”

After experiencing the fairy tale plot inconsistencies from staggered entries during the last erosion area abroad, Jing Qizhen felt that entering the erosion area as early as possible was the safest move.

The retired hospital director who was still in the middle of recounting an old story said, “Hey, I remember something major happened back in the ’90s!”

Jing Qizhen quickly responded, “No rush. We’ll head to the hospital’s old building first. Before the erosion area forms, there should still be Wifi. We can continue the conversation via video chat!”

The old director calmed down instantly, “Alright then, just be careful!”

Then, Jing Qizhen and his group, now carrying repacked and resupplied backpacks, left the hotel.

The accompanying staff member promptly contacted the outside team to arrange special temporary passes for them.

Joyce instinctively followed his cousin Wilcox a few steps and asked, “Should I go with you guys to the hospital entrance?”

But before he finished his sentence, Caroline, wearing heels, yanked him back. “What if you accidentally get pulled in?!”

After all, no one knows which comes first, tomorrow or the unexpected. With her strong sense of crisis, Caroline was absolutely against tempting fate by hovering near the edge of an erosion area.

Joyce’s face darkened as Caroline gripped his collar.

David shrugged at Joyce, thinking Caroline was absolutely right.

Wilcox glanced back and only said, “Stay put. Make sure you cooperate with the staff.”

Joyce: “Got it =.=!”

***

From the hotel to the old building of Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital, Lu Lingxi timed the ride; just five minutes.

Jing Qizhen and the others got out of the vehicle and signaled the driver to leave quickly.

Inside the hospital grounds, near the inpatient building, more than a dozen ambulances were still flashing lights and moving back and forth.

The number of inpatients was considerable and transferring them all at once required a large number of ambulances and accompanying medical staff.

Originally, the erosion area was expected to appear at 2 a.m. With that timeline, it would be barely enough to evacuate all the patients. Now, with the time estimate possibly shifting, the staff was simply overwhelmed.

Jing Qizhen gave the busy scene a serious glance, then quickly looked away and turned to face the old building in front of him.

The building only had four floors and signs of desertification were already evident on the outside. On the west wall, there were still quite a few withered climbing vines from winter, clinging wrinkled and dry along the first and second floors.

The glass on the windows was fairly bright, probably replaced in recent years, but the window frames were still the old-fashioned kind that swung outward.

Aside from the main entrance, there was also a clearly added-on staircase on the east side of the old building, likely meant to make it easier for staff to enter and exit.

Yan Hong suggested, “Let’s look at the map and study the layout of the hospital’s old building first?”

Lu Lingxi didn’t hesitate. “Sounds good.” As a sniper, he had the highest need for spatial order.

Jing Qizhen also nodded. “Let’s take a walk around first and check it out.” As he spoke, he even pulled out his phone to start a livestream, keeping up the conversation with the retired doctors back at the hotel.

The former director of the Second Municipal Hospital: “Hey, my old office used to be on the third floor of that building. The floor used to be uneven cement. It wasn’t until a later renovation that they finally tiled it.”

The current director added, “The air conditioning in the old building was only installed in 2010. The electrical wiring was too outdated and couldn’t support the load, so they had to redo the entire circuit.”

The former director sighed, “So the old building has air conditioning now? That happened more than ten years after I retired.”

Gu Leshan held the map in his hands, listening while making comparisons, occasionally nodding.

The hospital’s old building couldn’t be considered dilapidated but early architectural designs lacked proper lighting. Combined with the shadow cast by taller nearby buildings, the interior was extremely dim.

As they passed through the second-floor hallway, Jing Qizhen turned on the corridor lights. But the bulbs were dim and yellow, so the hallway still looked murky.

Through the dusty old glass of the corridor’s small ventilation windows, they could vaguely see ambulances outside still busily moving about.

When they reached the third floor, the current director warned, “The stairs there are uneven. The last step is lower than the others. Watch your footing.” He had good reason to say that >_<!

Everyone paid attention and honestly, if it hadn’t been for the warning, someone really could have stepped wrong there.

Just then, the retired director suddenly remembered something and spoke urgently, “Wait! Don’t go up to the fourth floor yet!”

Everyone paused in surprise.

And right at that moment, the signal cut off.

Everyone in the hospital jumped in alarm.