42 – Line Detection

Li Yun yawned as he headed to the bathroom and began to brush his teeth. His mind slowly eased out from the morning slumber and he suddenly realized the system had rewarded him something. It was odd, as the task to comprehend the meridian was still incomplete.

Secret mission achieved, remove 100 lines of misfortune. Special Reward: Line Detection.

Li Yun snorted. Typical of the system to give him something that sounded stupid.

"Line of misfortune?" Li Yun wondered whose wrinkles or scars were healed. He had a hunch that it was Gu Ren's.

After dressing up, Li Yun looked around the lounge area, finding only An Luchang in the room. An Luchang was diligently reading a book on face reading, very similar to the one Li Yun had read when he first began studying it back in high school.

"So, what do you think about it so far?" asked Li Yun.

"It's very fascinating," An Luchang responded as his eyes continued to devour the content. "I've also found videos and seminars of people teaching face reading online. The instructor would approach random people and read their faces. Unlike those psychic shows, he would break down his method on how he was able to figure out their lifestyle just by reading their faces."

"Are you able to apply it to a patient?"

An Luchang shook his head. "I'm not good with people. Even if I could discern their stubbornness and drinking problem, they won't listen to me even after I tell them it's best if they sober up."

"Are you able to figure out why they have a drinking problem?"

"Most people drink because they want to forget about their problems."

"Did you see more wrinkles on the right or left side?"

"On the left, yin side. That is their private face? So they don't want others to know that they have a drinking problem?"

Li Yun nodded. "You can think of the left side of your face as the true persona, and the right side of the face as the image you want to project to the world."

"Ironic, isn't it known that most people tend to favor the left side of their face?"

Li Yun smiled and nodded.

An Luchang didn't have any discernible wrinkles. However, once he was concentrating on something, it was easy to see worry lines developing between his eyebrows. It was common to see worry lines among people who graduated from school, especially medical students.

Upon focusing on An Luchang's worry lines, three things entered his mind.

Father- 21%

Gaokao- 10%

MLE- 8%

He had never seen the information appear in his head before, and wondered if this was the line detection ability.

"Are you worried about your dad?" Li Yun asked.

An Luchang instinctively touched his forehead.

"Is it showing on my face?" An Luchang asked. "How do you know it's my dad?"

"Just wondering."

"My dad is an alcoholic and a smoker like any other father. I guess it's not difficult to guess."

It didn't look like An Luchang wanted to talk as he returned to reading the book. A moment later, Mi Xuan and Yang Kang walked in.

"Luchang, you're done with the book?" asked Mi Xuan.

Li Yun wondered when they got so close. Looking at Mi Xuan's worry line, it seemed that the two had the exact same problem.

Father- 19%

Gaokao- 11%

MLE- 8%

Even without line detention, Li Yun could tell that almost all medical students had the same problems and shared similar experiences. Looking at Yang Kang, Li Yun revised that thought, only some medical students had the same problem.

"Dr. Li, anything interesting on my face?" asked Yang Kang.

"When are you coming out to your parents?" asked Li Yun.

Yang Kang's flirty smile immediately turned into a frown.

"Dr. Li, please stop being an insensitive ass," Mi Xuan glared at Li Yun.

"I'm only saying this because this is a problem you should address." Li Yun was being very serious.

Coming out to parents made up 39% of Yang Kang's worries. It was easy to assume that a high percentage wasn't a good thing. Yang Kang was very extroverted, but he was likely very reversed and polite around his parent. Masking a person's true personality to the extreme, especially from one's parents, could easily lead to depression.

Li Yun didn't think he had the ability to help Yang Kang with his problems, but he thought that Mi Xuan had that ability. They were friends in college, and it was best for friends to help each other out. Although Li Yun wanted to help, the only thing he could do was to air the problem out into the open. It was insensitive, but sometimes it was better to be an ass to help someone than to stay quiet.

Nurse Yuen walked into the room. Looking at the awkward silence in the room, her eyes shifted around to survey what had happened. Her eyes landed on Li Yun, and she correctly thought it was him who caused the trouble. Either way, it didn't look too serious, so she smiled.

"Dr. Li, Chief Lim would like to see you," she announced.

Li Yun nodded and followed Nurse Yuen toward the administration area. Inside Chief Lim's office, Li Yun was surprised to see some familiar faces, but he could immediately guess their reasons for being there.

"Lieutenant Tao, Detective Dan, what a surprise to see you here," Li Yun shook both their hands.

"You acting all professional frightens me," said Bu Tao all dressed formly in his uniform. "Hey kid, good to finally see you in a white coat."

"I guess that means no introduction is needed," said Chief Lim, noticing their friendly demeanor. "Lieutenant Bu wants to interview some of the patients. I was about to send someone to escort him around the hospital, but he mentioned that you are acquainted."

"Acquainted," Li Yun cheekily responded.

"I know you're probably exhausted, so I can also ask someone else." Chief Lim knew Li Yun worked throughout the night.

"It's not a problem, I can assist them," Li Yun reassured her.

"Then I should also let you know that this is a very high profile incident. Avoid talking to any reporters."

Li Yun wanted to salute her, but thought she would probably shoot him down with her eyes, so he nodded. After finishing up all formalities, the detectives and Li Yun left Chief Lim's office and walked down the hallway toward the ICU.

"Why are you handling a case all the way in Qinbei?" Li Yun asked. Bu Tao's jurisdiction was in Yide.

"Internal exchange program for two weeks," Bu Tao replied. "What rotten luck, Qinbei is usually known as a peaceful little city."

"I doubt it has anything to do with luck. How's the site?"

"A complete mess. I haven't seen anything like it in my career. It's still under investigation, but initial reports suggest it is a bomb."

Everyone had speculated it, but it wasn't confirmed.

"We have been combing for footage around the area," Bu Tao explained. "The building was already old and in poor condition, and even the cameras inside the building are fake. We don't have many leads, but we are hoping that someone have noticed something."

"Do you have a list of people who work in the building?"

"From the list of employees, only two people are missing. They are either still missing under the rubble or they could be the suspect."

"Guests?"

"It's just an office building and they don't normally have people coming in from the outside. The likelihood of guests or visitors at the time is unlikely."

"What type of bomb?" It wasn't like Li Yun knew much about bombs, but the more information he gathered, the better it would be to narrow down the suspect.

"It's a homemade bomb, but definitely someone with a military background."

"The government doesn't like to hear that."

"Well, yeah, that's why we didn't release the news about it yet. The sooner we catch the guy, the better it would be for everyone."