To Rise Again In The Apocalypse

Because of what Li XinWen told Xue Rui, they ended up having a quick lunch and they rushed to the hospital immediately after. Of course, the hospital that Xue Rui had chosen was one where he had power over as part of the board of directors. A hospital attendant led them to the back as soon as they arrived. There was no need for them to fill in the paperwork and wait for their turn. In fact, the hospital staff were already waiting for them.

The same hospital attendant escorted them all the way to the CAT scan control room where a nurse guided Li XinWen to a separate room. "Mr. Li, please change into this patient robe. Make sure you remove any metallic items in your person," the nurse said in a polite tone before leaving Li XinWen to change. Li XinWen quietly changed into the patient robe then heard the nurse's knock on the door not long after: "Mr. Li? Are you done? I will escort you to the CAT room."

"Alright. Please wait a moment," Li XinWen said before stepping out of the changing room. He followed the nurse to another room where the machine was located.

It was the first time Li XinWen saw such an equipment and he couldn't help but feel curious. It was almost daunting because of the huge circular gantry which was the most dominant feature of the equipment. From what he gathered from his spiritual sense, the gantry was made up of technology unlike any he had ever seen in all his years in Long Xing.

"Mr. Li, please lie down here," the nurse gestured to what Li XinWen saw as a table-like bed. He got onto the bed and laid down while the nurse prepared the machine. "Mr. Li, please relax and close your eyes," the nurse's voice came again and Li XinWen obeyed. After closing his eyes, he felt the nurse place something on top of his eyes as a cover. "Do not worry, this will help protect your eyes and reduce any radiation absorbed by your eyes," the nurse quickly said when she noticed Li XinWen's hand shot up to reach for the eye mask. "Just relax, Mr. Li. It will be over soon."

Though Li XinWen actually felt uncomfortable, he decided to put his trust on Xue Rui. He doubted that Xue Rui would let any harm to come to him. Li XinWen didn't notice how long he laid down but when he got up, he sensed that something was wrong with his body. Using his spiritual energy to do a quick scan, he noticed that there were some impurities mixed within. He frowned before quickly dispelling the impurities from his body.

When the nurse saw that Li XinWen did not suffer any side effects that patients usually suffer from after a scan, he was astonished. "Mr. Li, are you feeling alright? No dizziness? Nausea?" he asked.

"No. I feel quite alright. Why?" Li XinWen asked back.

"Oh it's nothing. Usually, due to radiation exposure, patients would feel uncomfortable for a while. You must have high tolerance," the nurse explained with a smile on his face.

After hearing the explanation, Li XinWen finally realized what the impurities were. He didn't say anything else afterwards and simply followed the nurse out of the room and changed back to his clothes. After that, he went to the CAT scan control room where the doctor and Xue Rui were waiting.

Li XinWen approached Xue Rui who was leaning into a screen resembling the television they had at home. But this was smaller in comparison and was bulkier. The doctor fiddled with the controls until the CT scan image of Li XinWen's brain appeared on the screen. The projection of his brain on the screen surprised Li XinWen, realizing that he was actually looking at the image of his brain.

"Amazing… so that's how the brain actually looks like?" he thought to himself.

The doctor was explaining the image to Xue Rui and Li XinWen, pointing to specific parts and rambling off technical jargon that Li XinWen was unable to understand. Xue Rui on the other hand was nodding his head as if agreeing to what the doctor said. He kept asking questions until he felt satisfied and all Li XinWen could do was look at the two men exchanging gibberish.

"Mr. Xue, Mr. Li, please rest assured that there is nothing wrong with Mr Li's brain. We did not find any concussion or swelling which might be the cause for the memory loss. Based on the results, I can confidently say that Mr. Li is 100% healthy. I am not entirely sure what is causing Mr. Li's fuzzy memories but it is highly probable that this is only a temporary condition and isn't something to worry about," the doctor said.

Turning to Li XinWen, he said: "However, I do advise you, Mr. Li to observe your condition closely. If you experience any additional symptom such as headaches, dizziness or any kind of pain, please come see us right away so we can do another exam."

He paused when he saw Li XinWen's reluctant look and couldn't help but let out a small laughter. "It's better to be on top of these things to make sure that it doesn't get any worse, Mr. Li. For now, you can go on with your day without any worries," he continued as he stood up and patted Li XinWen's shoulder.

"Alright, thank you Dr. Zhang" Xue Rui remarked as he shook the doctor's hand.

Xue Rui turned to Li XinWen and ran his fingers through his hair and heaved a sigh of relief as if all the worries and tension he was holding since their lunch had just completely melted away. He reached for Li XinWen and squeezed him in an embrace before whispering: "I'm glad everything's okay. I'm glad that you're okay XinWen."

Li XinWen was at a loss for words at what just happened. He couldn't name what he was feeling at that very moment. It was like as if all the butterflies in his stomach were flapping their wings, restless, and were trying desperately to fly up to his heart and up to his throat. He felt warm and confused at the same time that he thought he was going to tear up. In front of him stood a man who was genuinely concerned for his health and well-being. Something he had only felt from his recent encounter with the figure they called mother.

He didn't know how to react and all he could do was lower his eyes because he knew that if he looked straight at Xue Rui he might do something he might come to regret later on.

'Ah! This is cheating…seriously,' Li XinWen thought, mustering enough composure to face Xue Rui again. He let out a nervous laugh and said: "Thank you Rui-ge…"

"Well, now that we're sure that everything's alright, why don't we go get your gift XinWen," Xue Rui said, smiling.

"Yeah…let's go!" Li XinWen responded enthusiastically before continuing, "See…what did I tell you Rui-ge. I told you I was fine and you were just being too paranoid," he chuckled and clapped Xue Rui's back gently.

They made their way out of the CT scan control room and boarded the elevator to the hospital's first level bas.e.m.e.nt where Xue Rui's Maserati was already waiting.

Li XinWen checked his watch and saw that it was close to 3:30 PM. Based on the original's memories, his sister Li JingHua gets off work at 4 PM, so he casually made a suggestion. "Rui-ge, Hua-jie will finish her work in thirty minutes, right? How about we drop by her office and go pick her up?" trying his best not to sound like as if he was finding a way to foil Xue Rui's date plans.

Xue Rui's smile quickly vanished upon hearing Li XinWen's suggestion. However, Li XinWen suggested it so casually that he didn't even suspect that it was Li XinWen's way of escaping from their supposed date. He looked at Li XinWen who was standing beside him in the elevator, grinning like a child after the innocent suggestion.

'He is too cute… I don't think I can be angry at his suggestion…' Xue Rui thought before speaking in a business-like manner.

"I'm sorry XinWen but we can't do that. Since we are acquiring your Jian from an auction house, last minute addition of auction participants is impossible. If I had known that you wanted JingHua to come with us, I would have secured another entrance pass, but unfortunately I only managed to get two. Even with my status, it's impossible to bend the auction house rules at the last minute," Xui Rui told Li XinWen.

Of course it wasn't entirely true and Xue Rui didn't have any plans of admitting this to Li XinWen. Xue Rui belonged to such a distinguished family that any establishment would gladly bend its rules just to accommodate him. So much so that he can even opt to go through the back door and acquire whatever items were on the auction list even before these items go into auction to the wider network of buyers.

"An auction house?!?" Li XinWen asked excitedly, which came as a pleasant surprise to Xue Rui. Li XinWen's reaction was everything to him at that moment. "I can't wait to get to the auction house Rui-ge!" he expressed, eyes brightening like a child's.

In Long Xing, wherever there was an auction, one was sure to find a treasure, and finding out that there are also auction houses in the mortal world, Li XinWen could not wait to find out what kind of treasures he was bound to come across.