In the early winter of Binhai, it was nearly six in the morning, and the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Located at the intersection of University Road and Renmin Road, Binhai University Affiliated Hospital was the best and largest general hospital in Binhai.
The hospital never slept, and from time to time, an ambulance would come screaming through its gates...
With a soft DING, the elevator doors on the seventeenth floor of Inpatient Building Five at the Affiliated Hospital slowly opened.
The doors had barely opened a foot when a slender figure squeezed out from inside.
She was a woman in her late twenties, her forehead beaded with fine sweat, her features delicate and beautiful.
She had choppy hair that barely covered her ears, and it was a complete mess.
It was hard to tell if it had been tousled by the cold wind or if she had simply scrambled out of bed without bothering to comb it.
Judging by her clothes, it was likely the latter.
She wore plaid cotton pajamas, with only a plain, knee-length down jacket thrown haphazardly over them. On her feet were a pair of cotton slippers.
Dressed this way, the woman ran toward Room 12, her breath coming in hurried white puffs, her face a mask of anxiety.
She shoved the door open, then froze as if struck by lightning.
The hospital bed right next to the door was empty.
The person who was supposed to be lying there was gone.
Not only that, but the sheets on the bed were perfectly smooth, and the quilt was folded into a neat square.
In an instant, it was as if all the bones had been pulled from her body. She went limp against the doorframe, slowly sliding down.
Large tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
"Feifan... Feifan..."
Just as the woman was about to collapse to the floor, a nurse on duty who had heard the commotion rushed over and caught her.
"Yan Ziruo, Mr. Yan was sent to the ICU on the third floor..."
The words were like a shot of adrenaline. Yan Ziruo shot back to her feet.
"My brother’s not dead?"
"Third floor, ICU..."
Yan Ziruo hurried to the ICU on the third floor and saw a man in his fifties standing in front of a room window. He was slightly heavyset, with short, salt-and-pepper hair, and wore a white coat.
She ran over to him.
Through the large window, Yan Ziruo saw a tall, thin man lying on the hospital bed, his face drained of color.
She recognized him at a glance.
It was her younger brother, Yan Feifan.
Seeing her brother on a ventilator, with numerous monitors connected to his head and body, Yan Ziruo asked through her tears, "Mr. Liu, Feifan’s condition... how did it worsen so suddenly?"
The doctor, Mr. Liu, sighed softly. "At 4:10 this morning, the monitor showed his blood oxygen saturation had dropped to ninety and sounded an alarm."
"The doctor on duty found that Feifan’s breathing was weak, so he was intubated immediately."
"Upon further examination..."
Mr. Liu paused, then sighed. "Feifan’s brain activity has dropped to a level nearing brain death..."
"Impossible. That’s impossible."
Yan Ziruo interrupted in disbelief, "For the entire year he’s been in a coma, his brain waves have always been very active."
"Didn’t you all say his brain activity was even higher than a conscious, healthy person’s?"
"How could he suddenly become brain-dead?"
Mr. Liu pointed to the EEG monitor inside the room.
Yan Ziruo looked at the display and saw an almost perfectly flat line.
The sight plunged Yan Ziruo’s heart into an icy abyss. A cold numbness spread through her, her mind went blank, and even Mr. Liu’s voice seemed to fade into the distance.
"Feifan’s brain has always been unusually active. We were all so hopeful that tomorrow, or perhaps someday, he would wake up."
Mr. Liu’s voice was heavy as he said, "We held onto that hope, waiting day after day, month after month."
"And now, a year and three months have passed..."
Mr. Liu turned to the tear-streaked Yan Ziruo and said painfully, "Ziruo, we have to accept reality."
"Feifan... his lamp has run out of oil. He isn’t going to wake up."
Mr. Liu paused again, then steeled himself and said, "Ziruo, as you know, Feifan signed an organ donation agreement before."
"Before he joined the medical team for the earthquake relief mission in Chuanxi, Feifan specifically designated you in the agreement as his sole guardian in case of an accident."
"Ziruo, this organ donation... it still requires your consent..."
Mr. Liu reached out to steady the wavering Yan Ziruo and continued, "I know what I’m saying is cruel."
"But there’s no chance of Feifan waking up now."