132: Investigation evidence

With evidence in hand and backgrounds clear, Shen Mingyuan knew that a complete defense strategy had to cover all angles, including the other party's side of the story. He needed to personally meet the other intruder who hadn't been injured and was the one who called the police that night—Zhao Yong.

In a low-rent apartment, Shen Mingyuan met Zhao Yong. The man was a youth in his early twenties with shifty eyes and a reckless air. He was clearly guarded and resistant to the lawyer's visit.

“I don't know anything. I was drunk and can't remember clearly,” Zhao Yong said, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his tone impatient. “I just saw that old man hitting my brother's head with a stick. He was ruthless! That's intentional homicide!”

“According to the surveillance, you two were pounding on the doors and windows first and attempted to break the lock.” Shen Mingyuan’s tone was calm, as if stating simple facts. “Uncle Chen is nearly seventy years old, while you two are young and strong, and you broke into his workplace late at night. How do you think a judge will view the nature of your actions?”

“We were just drunk and messing around! Who wanted to go in? That crappy door just wasn't sturdy!” Zhao Yong raised his voice, trying to use his Aura to cover his guilt. “That old man was too cruel! My brother is still lying in the hospital. If anything happens to him, that old geezer will pay with his life!”

Shen Mingyuan did not argue over the details. Instead, he asked leading questions about the amount of alcohol consumed that night, why they went to that neighborhood, and whether they had any prior grudges with Uncle Chen.

Zhao Yong's answers were contradictory and full of holes; at one moment he claimed to be completely wasted, and the next he could clearly describe Uncle Chen's movements.

The recording pen in Shen Mingyuan’s inner coat pocket worked silently, capturing these chaotic and emotional statements.

These conversations might not be directly admissible as evidence, but they were sufficient to challenge the credibility of Zhao Yong's testimony in court.

Leaving Zhao Yong's residence, Shen Mingyuan's next stop was the hospital.

He needed to understand the latest condition of the injured Qian Qiang and attempt to contact the family—though he knew it would be anything but pleasant.

The corridor outside the ICU was thick with the smell of disinfectant and an oppressive atmosphere.

Qian Qiang's mother and several people who looked like relatives sat on a bench, their faces haggard and eyes red and swollen. When Shen Mingyuan identified himself as Uncle Chen's lawyer and expressed his desire to understand the situation, he was met with fierce resistance, as expected.

“A lawyer? That damn old man's lawyer? Get out! We won't talk to you!” Qian Qiang's mother stood up emotionally. “If my son doesn't wake up, none of you will have it easy! We're going to sue to the end! We'll make him rot in jail!”

The other relatives surrounded him as well, their words fierce and full of resentment. Shen Mingyuan did not try to argue or confront them; he simply calmly showed his credentials, expressed his legal right to understand the patient's condition according to regulations, and asked them to calm down.

With the intervention of medical staff and hospital security, the conflict did not escalate, but communication was clearly impossible.

Shen Mingyuan settled for the next best thing and asked the attending physician about Qian Qiang's condition. The doctor confirmed that Qian Qiang was still in a deep coma with severe traumatic brain injury and intracranial hemorrhage. His vital signs were extremely unstable, and the prognosis was very poor. “He could be in life-threatening danger at any time,” the doctor said tactfully.

Just as Shen Mingyuan was preparing to leave and thinking about his next move, he passed the observation window of the ICU ward where Qian Qiang was located and habitually glanced inside.

The hospital bed was empty.

There were only messy beddings and the still-running monitoring equipment. The screen flickered with disorganized lines, emitting a faint, rhythmic alarm. The tubes and lines connected to the body had come loose and were hanging down.

Shen Mingyuan's footsteps paused, his pupils constricting slightly. He immediately went to the Nurse station.

“Where is Qian Qiang from ICU Bed 3? Was he transferred? Or...” An ominous feeling rose in his heart.

The Nurse on duty looked bewildered. “Qian Qiang? There’s no transfer notice? I just...” She walked quickly to the observation window and looked inside, her face changing instantly. “Where... where is he?!”

Inside the ward, there was only the cold equipment and the empty bed. A patient who was severely injured and in a coma, and who should have been completely unable to move on his own, had vanished without a sound from the heavily guarded ICU.

Shen Mingyuan forced himself to calm down quickly. “Calm down! First, confirm if he was urgently transferred by the medical team for special examinations or surgery. Contact the relevant departments and the attending physician immediately!”

After a brief moment of chaos, feedback came back quickly: there were no transfer records, and the attending physician was also completely unaware.

“Check the surveillance!” Shen Mingyuan’s tone was decisive. “If there’s none in the ward, check the corridors, elevators, and exits! Now!”

The hospital security personnel realized the severity of the situation and immediately pulled up the surveillance footage of the ICU area and adjacent floors. Shen Mingyuan, along with several medical staff and security guards, stared intently at the screen.

The time rolled back to about forty minutes ago.

The screen showed the door of Qian Qiang's ICU ward being slowly pushed open from the inside. A figure stumbled out—it was Qian Qiang, who was supposed to be unconscious! He was wearing loose hospital pajamas with thick gauze wrapped around his head. His steps were unsteady but his goal was clear as he avoided the front of the Nurse station and moved along the shadows by the wall.

“This... how is this possible?!” the doctor beside him whispered. “His injuries shouldn't even allow him to stand up!”

Shen Mingyuan said nothing, just staring at the screen. Qian Qiang crossed the corridor and turned toward the logistics passage and the medical equipment storage room. A few minutes later, he reappeared, his hospital gown pockets and arms seemingly stuffed full of things, bulging.

Security personnel ran to the storage room to check and soon sent back news: the stock of 50% glucose injections, physiological saline, and some high-energy nutritional supplements had been completely cleared out.

“Is he collecting... energy supplies?” a Nurse murmured, her face full of confusion.

The subsequent surveillance tracking showed that Qian Qiang went down the fire stairs, left through a seldom-used side door of the hospital, and finally disappeared beyond the range of the street surveillance in the dim early morning light.

Throughout the entire process, he barely looked up and had no contact with anyone.

In the ICU ward, only an empty bed, intermittent alarms, and a group of stunned medical staff remained.

Shen Mingyuan stood before the surveillance screen, the hospital's clamor seemingly fading from his ears. The images he saw defied all medical common sense. A dying, severely injured person had left in an impossible manner and taken a large amount of life-sustaining supplies.

Just then, a short, clear vibration came from Shen Mingyuan's pocket.

He was immediately startled out of his contemplation, his brow furrowing slightly as he reached into his pocket. It was the vibration of his phone, coming from the software with a special notification tone—wechat. On the screen, next to the period “.” that served as the starry sky avatar, a red “1” lit up.

“Sorry, excuse me for a moment, I need to take a work call,” Shen Mingyuan said quickly to the doctors and security guards who were still frantically discussing, his tone returning to the calm and indisputable manner characteristic of a lawyer. He turned away nonchalantly, his eyes quickly scanning the corridor for a suitable corner.

He soon locked onto the entrance of a backup passage leading to the old medical records room. The lighting there was dim, and the corner happened to be a surveillance blind spot. He walked over quickly, confirmed no one was around, and slipped his body into the shadows of the wall before unlocking his phone and clicking on the chat box.

.** (The Forger): You should have already noticed the anomaly regarding “Qian Qiang.”

Shen Mingyuan's eyes narrowed, his fingers typing rapidly.

Shen Mingyuan: Yes. He disappeared in a way that is medically impossible. Do you know why?

.**: It is similar to the armor you carry. This is most likely a phenomenon caused by the activation of the “primordial evolution factor”—or “evo factor.”

Shen Mingyuan: evo factor? I am not familiar with this term.

.**: You indeed wouldn't be. Because this is a core secret strictly blocked and controlled by major global official agencies, concerning the essence of all current anomalies in the world.

Immediately following, a series of clear, concise messages like file summaries were sent over.

.: To summarize: the evo factor is a primitive driving particle that has existed since the birth of life on Earth. It exists in all living organisms, but in the vast majority, the concentration is extremely low and remains in a recessive state.

Only when an individual faces an extreme situation, especially a near-death crisis, can the evo factor within their body, if its concentration exceeds a critical threshold, possibly be forcibly activated.

.: Once activated, the factor will follow the most primitive Law of “survival priority,” consuming the individual's own massive biological energy to guide the body toward rapid evolution in the direction of “solving the current fatal threat” or “extending life.”

This evolution is crude and uncontrollable; the result depends entirely on the type of threat and the individual's own factor concentration and potential.

.**: The evolution process itself consumes a large amount of energy. If the energy reserves are insufficient, the evolution will fail or even lead to the individual's death. Furthermore, the evolved form and abilities also require continuous energy to maintain.

Shen Mingyuan read quickly, his powerful logical abilities immediately combining this information with the situation at hand.

Shen Mingyuan: I see. So, because Qian Qiang was severely injured and near death, he accidentally met the condition of a “near-death crisis,” activating the evo factor in his body? He is currently... in the process of evolution? So his instinct to find high-concentration glucose and saline was to supplement the energy needed for evolution?

.**: That is the most reasonable inference. While unconscious, his mind is dominated by survival instincts and evolutionary impulses. However, as for the specific concentration of the evo factor in his body, I haven't scanned him at close range, so I cannot judge. This determines his evolutionary potential, speed, and the strength and stability of his final form.

Shen Mingyuan: Regardless, he will become very dangerous.

.**: Yes. Extremely dangerous. I have witnessed human individuals who, after evolving, had their minds consumed by primitive survival desires, viewing other humans as “prey” from which to obtain energy.

There are also cases showing that Evolvers may retain parts of their original consciousness or obsessions, such as... intense resentment toward the person who caused their near-death state. In either case, the situation for Uncle Chen, and those potentially related to him, is not optimistic.

Shen Mingyuan gripped his phone tightly. His lawyer's mind immediately thought of the worst-case scenario: a “monster” who had gained extraordinary power, possibly lost its sanity, and harbored murderous intent toward Uncle Chen.

.**: The second armor System tailored for you is still in preparation, and the carrier model has not yet arrived. If the situation is urgent and you encounter danger, you can, and must, use your current “silver skeleton” form to respond. Remember, although individuals in the Early Stage of evolution have unknown abilities, they are usually extremely unstable. Seizing the opportunity is crucial.

Shen Mingyuan took a deep breath, his gaze sharp as a knife in the shadows. He turned off his phone screen and quickly edited a concise reply.

Shen Mingyuan: Received. I understand.

The message was sent successfully. He put the phone back in his pocket, adjusted the collar of his coat, and stepped out from the shadows.