Lu Linjiang cut his words short. Both men turned simultaneously toward the direction of Xu Sichen’s voice. Seizing the opportunity to change the subject, Jiang Cheng said, "Let’s go see what happened."
The wealth of words Lu Linjiang had prepared was ruthlessly stifled by reality. He had no choice but to follow Jiang Cheng to see what was going on with Martina.
Inside the large, once-boisterous private KTV room, only the background music was still playing. The large overhead lights, usually kept off for atmosphere, had been switched on. Playing cards were scattered across the floor. A circle of people surrounded Martina, and someone was pressed against the door, shielding their ear as they called for an ambulance.
Lu Linjiang grabbed a bystander. "What happened?"
The person he caught looked dazed, but being a police officer, they hadn't panicked. They explained the situation in a few words: "It seems Martina wanted to go to the bathroom or something. She collapsed just as she reached the door. Xu Sichen couldn't catch her in time. She might have hit something; she looks unconscious now."
Lu Linjiang glanced over. Xu Sichen and several members of the Forensics Department were kneeling on the floor, examining Martina. Jiang Cheng, worried, said, "I’m going to take a closer look."
Seeing him struggle to squeeze through the crowd, Lu Linjiang didn't join the fray. Instead, he called out to the people around them, "Everyone, step back. Don't be so unprofessional. Give her some fresh air."
Realizing their mistake, the crowd hastily retreated a step. Guo Junyi, who had been in high spirits all evening, had regained some of his composure. He watched Jiang Cheng examine Martina, wiped his face, and said to Lu Linjiang, "What the hell is this?"
The hotel staff, hearing the commotion, rushed over. Facing the scene, a waiter asked frantically, "Sir, what happened?"
Jiang Langmin followed close behind the waiter. "What’s going on? I was only gone for a moment."
"She was walking fine, then suddenly collapsed," Guo Junyi said helplessly. "I was just picking a song when I heard shouting behind me. I thought it was some kind of special performance..."
Lu Linjiang patted his shoulder. "The ambulance has been called. She should be fine."
"Am I just fated to be around hospitals lately?" Guo Junyi looked at Martina lying on the floor, then scanned the room. "Did any of you see what happened? How did she just fall like that? For a second, I thought someone had gotten too wild and pulled the TV onto the floor."
At the time, everyone had been busy singing or playing cards. Aside from the few people who had moved to let Xu Sichen and Martina pass, no one had noticed them getting up, let alone how she fell. Fortunately, several members of the Forensics Department were present. Though they didn't usually treat the living, they weren't so nervous that they lost their heads.
Jiang Cheng examined her for a moment, then suddenly said, "Something’s wrong. She’s fading! Has the ambulance arrived yet?"
The crowd, which had been exchanging uncertain glances, tensed up instantly. Guo Junyi lunged to Martina’s side and, refusing to believe the worst, felt for her carotid artery. He found the pulse to be completely erratic—a sign of impending sudden death.
"What’s the situation!" Guo Junyi immediately pulled at Martina’s clothes and waved the others over. "Give me a hand, move her outside!"
Jiang Cheng was pulled back by Jiang Langmin, who had arrived a step late. "With your build, you should stay back. Did you see what’s wrong with her just now? They said she fell, so why is she suddenly dying?"
Jiang Cheng looked on in disbelief. "There are clearly no external injuries. Even if it was a sudden faint, Xu Sichen tried to catch her. It shouldn't have been such a violent impact." Martina was already being carried out. "And I don't think her condition was caused by an impact."
"Not an impact?" Lu Linjiang asked. "Then what?"
"It looks more like an allergy or something similar," Jiang Cheng said cautiously. "I just saw what looked like a red rash forming on her fingertips."
Lu Linjiang hadn't been in the mood to eat all evening, but he wasn't so distracted that he couldn't remember the dishes. He thought back briefly. "There wasn't anything particularly allergenic, unless it was those scallops or something."
"Allergens are complex things; it’s not just high-protein foods that cause reactions," Jiang Langmin corrected. "Gluten, nuts... it’s hard to say."
Lu Linjiang thought about it. "Then there were too many possibilities tonight. The problem is—and I’m no expert—but I recall that most severe allergies should have manifested before. Could there have been something tonight she’s never eaten? If not, she wouldn't have touched those things knowing she was allergic, right?"
"That... is also hard to say. But a sudden allergy shouldn't be this violent unless she ingested a massive dose of a potent allergen. What did she eat the most of tonight?" Jiang Cheng asked, turning with Lu Linjiang to look at Jiang Langmin.
Jiang Langmin raised a hand in front of his chest, looking disapproving. "Social etiquette does not include monitoring what someone eats all night."
Fearing the crowd would stifle the air, most people stayed by the door of the private room, watching from a distance as the forensics team tended to Martina. Before they could analyze the situation further, paramedics with a stretcher rushed in, and Martina was quickly carried out.
With professional medical staff on the scene, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, though they soon looked at each other awkwardly. "Should we call the police? Do we have her family’s contact info?"
Lu Linjiang clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. "All of you go home. I’ll go to the hospital and keep watch. We’ll talk if anything happens." He was about to chase after the stretcher when he turned back to Jiang Cheng. "About what I said earlier... I’ll find you again after this is handled."
Outside the emergency room, Guo Junyi paced anxiously. "If I’d known, I wouldn't have held a celebration. We could have just grabbed some barbecue and eaten in the office."
Lu Linjiang held him steady. "Don't talk like that. No one could have predicted this. Besides, the doctor hasn't come out yet. Maybe it’s not that bad."
Before he could finish, a doctor stepped out of the operating room. "Who is the family of the person inside?"
Lu Linjiang pulled out his ID and handed it over. "She’s Argentine. She likely has no relatives in the country."
The doctor sighed. "It was likely anaphylactic shock. We couldn't resuscitate her. You’ll need to decide how to proceed with the formalities."
Guo Junyi was in disbelief. A perfectly healthy person was gone just like that. Once he processed the doctor’s words, he retreated to the side in self-reproach, sitting on a nearby bench without saying a word for a long time.
"It has nothing to do with you," Lu Linjiang comforted him before asking the doctor, "Do you know what caused the allergy?"
"If she were alive, I could run a test for you, but that’s impossible now." The doctor looked at the guilt-stricken Guo Junyi. "You’re professionals; you know where to handle the paperwork, right?" Seeing Lu Linjiang nod, he sighed and said, "My condolences."
Guo Junyi sat on the bench, his expression one of bleak desolation. Lu Linjiang knew that because of the recent incident, Guo Junyi didn't view life and death as lightly as he once had. Moreover, this had happened at his dinner party. He would likely rather be the one lying there than someone like Martina, who had come to eat and be happy. Lu Linjiang couldn't find the words to comfort him, so he simply patted him on the shoulder. "I’m going to go see her."
Even for someone like Lu Linjiang, who frequently dealt with homicides, it was rare to experience a situation where someone he had been eating with a few hours ago was now separated from him by the veil of death. He looked at the figure lying on the bed under a white sheet and, with a heavy heart, pulled it back.
Martina’s face was now covered in a large red rash. Even a layman like Lu Linjiang could see the allergy had been severe. The people he usually surrounded himself with were rough men like Yang Bo and Tang Hua, who seemed immune to all poisons. Even someone relatively "fragile" like Xu Sichen had the dominant stamina to sprint a kilometer without breaking a sweat.
A natural weakness like an allergy was something Lu Linjiang, in his hardened life, had only ever seen in case files.
Guo Junyi finally dragged his feet into the room. He had been full of joy today, celebrating his rebirth, but before the program was even over, a life had been lost. His dejection was almost identical to when he had been lying in the isolation ward, enduring blisters and pain all over his body. Guo Junyi stared at Martina’s deathly pale face for a long time. "Let’s do an autopsy. A girl came all this way to have dinner; she shouldn't leave this world in such an unclear way."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
鉴证科 | Forensics Department | Specifically the Forensic Science or Identification Division of the police.
猝死 | Sudden death | Medical term for unexpected death shortly after symptoms appear.
过敏性休克 | Anaphylactic shock | A severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.
尸检 | Autopsy | Post-mortem examination.
静海 | Jinghai | A city name in the story.
瑞典 | Sweden | The country Jiang Cheng plans to return to.
