A9 had a full view of everything happening in the room. 【Do you think that caregiver is suspicious?】
It couldn't see any flaws. The caregiver was indeed dispensing medication just now, strictly according to doctor's orders. It couldn't be more normal.
【If she really wanted to tamper with something, she wouldn't pull a bait-and-switch while you were right there in the room, right? That would be way too blatant.】
【Besides, even if someone wanted to kill the old lady for her inheritance, they wouldn't use poison. They'd disguise it as an accidental death. If some great detective showed up, they wouldn't even be able to get their hands on the inheritance.】
Lin Mo did feel that her actions earlier had been overly dramatic. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have acted so rashly in front of others... but she didn't regret her current hyper-vigilant, prickly state.
Past crises had sounded an alarm for her. Only by remaining hyper-vigilant could she avoid critical mistakes that might cause her to lose consciousness again.
She would no longer second-guess whether she was being paranoid, nor would she fear being assimilated by this world. She would suspect anyone and attack anyone until her own safety was guaranteed.
Even though it didn't receive a response from Lin Mo, A9 also grew alert. Lin Mo's sixth sense was extremely accurate. If she said there was a problem, there definitely was one, because she often sensed danger even before it, an observer, did.
The hostility and threats from outsiders were magnified countless times in her eyes until reaching a point she couldn't tolerate—like a convex lens catching sunlight, igniting a flame to burn the culprit to ashes.
And this personality trait easily allowed her to catch details that even it couldn't perceive.
A9 said, 【If you're really worried, we can come back and take another look after the staff are resting. What do you think?】
Lin Mo rejected its kind offer. “Could you stop talking? If you really have nothing better to do, go organize the memories you acquired not long ago.”
A9 went quiet. She was finding it annoying again. However, being injured did have its perks; for example, when it babbled on, trying to show off how brilliant and clever it was, Lin Mo couldn't knock its head off to teach it a lesson.
...
At three in the afternoon, the nursing home was quiet and peaceful. It was the time of day when the sun burned brightest. Sunlight climbed inch by inch up the railings until everything glowed a brilliant gold, leaving shadows nowhere to hide.
Most of the elderly residents were still sleeping, while a few with more energy had already gotten up to pass the time. Only faint sounds of footsteps echoed down the corridor.
After handling some of her work in the office, Lin Mo visited Room 412 once again.
Seeing her enter, Zhou Peilan shifted her gaze away from the television in front of her. She leaned forward and groped around the head of the bed, pulling open several drawers in succession without finding what she wanted. She shouted in annoyance, “That grandchild of mine took all my candy again!”
“Why does an old lady like you need to eat so much candy?!” Tang Ziyan muttered as she stepped out of the inner compartment, complaining as she turned her back to close the door. “If you get diabetes, you'll be the one suffering.”
Turning around to see Lin Mo at the doorway, her scalp tightened and her shoulders slouched inward. Dropping her petty bullying attitude instantly, she stammered, “W-what's wrong? D-do you need something?”
In Wudong's words, her current demeanor was utterly sketchy.
“I don't have much to do this afternoon, so I wanted to chat with the old lady.” Lin Mo raised the documents in her hand and lowered her head slightly. “Since I don't really know everyone's preferences yet, the person in charge asked me to ask around more.”
“Haha, I see! Oh, Grandma, I just remembered that those farming tools you were messing with this morning aren't put away properly yet. I'll go fix them.” Tang Ziyan let out an awkward laugh, pretending to be busy as she tucked in the loosened edge of the old lady's blanket—effectively trapping her on the bed—before striding stiffly out of the room.
The old lady was still mad at Tang Ziyan, grumbling that she was just like her mother. Refusing to believe that the candies she kept to coax children were truly gone, she kept rummaging through the corners of the drawers.
After Tang Ziyan left, Lin Mo walked over to the medicine cabinet against the wall. The glass cabinet was locked, and the bottom drawers for miscellaneous items were tightly shut. Stepping to the side, she glanced downward and spotted a small yellow pill underneath the cabinet.
Squatting down to pick up the pill, she placed it in her palm and flipped it with her thumb. There was a score line down the middle of the pill and no sugar coating on the surface; it was likely meant to be broken in half before consumption.
She compared the size of the pill against every medication in the cabinet, her eyes finally stopping on a white bottle with its label turned inward.
Was this bottle of medication here when she checked this morning?
Lin Mo looked back at the pill in her hand. Crushing it, she rubbed it between her fingertips and brought it closer to inspect. It happened to be a type she was relatively familiar with.
Clozapine, used to treat schizophrenia.
She had a rough recollection of Zhou Peilan's medical record. Aside from a few underlying conditions, the old lady only had mild cognitive impairment. Having lived in that cluttered little room for so long with only these minor issues, her health was actually quite fortunate.
But since there was no record of psychiatric medication, could the caregiver have accidentally brought it in and dropped it on the floor?
Through the reflective glass of the cabinet, she looked at the old lady by the bed. Unable to find her candy in the drawers, the old lady was leaning on her cane and stealthily shuffling toward the inner compartment, looking left and right to sneak a peek and see if Tang Ziyan had hidden her candy inside.
Zhou Peilan had nothing to do with her. If the old woman died, it would actually make things easier for her.
It was bothersome and left her conflicted. She didn't want to play detective... but it should be fine as long as she handed it off to someone else, right? It was just a very simple little task, and she wouldn't have to resolve it herself. Yet before this, she had received so much.
She couldn't understand it; overly complex relationships only clouded her thinking and decision-making.
...
543613: 【Clozapine.】
Blackheart Agency's #1 Genius: 【Is there anything more complete you'd like to tell me? There is, right? There definitely is! Even though I'm a genius, I'm not a god!】
543613: 【I only took a brief look, so I can't give you much information. Her records don't show any psychiatric consultations, yet she might have taken psychiatric medication.】
She shifted topics rapidly.
543613: 【Did you get the enrollment slot I mentioned last time?】
Blackheart Agency's #1 Genius: 【You can rely on me. Just head straight over when school starts. Best of luck with your work!】
【So how is Zhou Peilan herself doing?】
543613: 【She's lucid and capable of brief, normal conversations. No different from before.】
Blackheart Agency's #1 Genius: 【OK, I pretty much get the picture.】
【Clozapine itself is a second-line psychiatric drug. A single prescription requires a psychiatrist's signature and a medical assessment; it could never be handled so carelessly. So there's definitely something fishy going on—it's just a matter of who did it.】
【Let's leave it for a few days and see. I'm still checking her will's beneficiaries right now. Taking it for a day or two won't kill anyone anyway. Go have fun! By the way, I really didn't expect you to cooperate with me so honestly. I'm truly flattered. Besides the enrollment spot, is there anything else you want?】
【Hey, who are you going to kill at that school? Do you need my help?】
Lin Mo was no longer reading the barrage of messages filled with exclamation marks he was sending over.
Rate on N.U.
