Chapter 53

Her chair toppled to the floor; Lin Tantan stared at him, bewildered, unsure how to respond. Xu Tianjin, seeing any sign of reaction and taking it for hope, grew even more excited. "And me, do you remember me? My name's Xu Tianjin. Last year, no, I mean in that other world..." One year ago.
He'd barely finished when Lin Tantan snapped, "Shut up!"
Xu Tianjin trembled at the rebuke and stared blankly at her. Lin Tantan, seeing his dazed look and glancing at the patient's son, who looked just as bewildered, rubbed her temples in annoyance.
Someone outside poked their head in: "Dr. Lin, what's going on? Is someone causing trouble?" It was one of the hired bodyguards, eyes sharp as he looked at the three in the tent. At Lin Tantan's word, he could toss them out in an instant.
"Nothing," Lin Tantan waved him off, then looked back at Xu Tianjin. "You stay here. Don't move or speak. I'll talk to you later."
"...Oh." Xu Tianjin obediently shrank back to the side.
Lin Tantan treated the old woman. Her condition was serious; Lin Tantan could only stabilize her. To really recover she'd need nutritional support.
When the patient and family left, Lin Tantan composed herself. She told others she was taking a short break, then turned to Xu Tianjin.
Xu Tianjin immediately stood, straightening his back. Lin Tantan, a little annoyed, said, "Come with me."
This wasn't a place to talk.
She led Xu Tianjin to a more open area and, once sure no one could overhear, frowned at him. "What's going on? Tell me everything, carefully."
This wasn't the tearful reunion he'd imagined when meeting someone familiar in a strange place. Xu Tianjin's heart pounded: "You, you are Dr. Lin, right?"
Lin Tantan scrutinized him. The face and the man were unfamiliar, but the name Xu Tianjin rang a bell. He'd been the metal-type ability user whose powers had collapsed when she took his case at nineteen. She'd treated him on and off for over half a year before fully curing him.
When she finally told him he no longer needed to come, the man burst into tears. She'd assumed they were tears of joy, but he said he couldn't come see her anymore and was heartbroken.
A bit of a silly fellow.
Afterward he frequently brought her gifts. Being well-off, he was lavish with them; on holidays he'd drop by with childish little surprises.
If it had been anyone else standing here today, Lin Tantan's first instinct might have been to kill them to keep her secret. But with this naive, foolish fellow, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Okay, she really couldn't bring herself to do it.
Lin Tantan sighed. "When did you arrive?"
That was acceptance; Xu Tianjin's heart sank into place and his smile widened. "Not long ago. The exact date... should be the twenty-first."
January 21st!
Lin Tantan’s heart skipped, it's the date she discovered that mutated herb. Could the premature appearance of the mutated plant be connected to him?
Lin Tantan suppressed the thought and asked, "How did you get here?"
"I don't know. One moment I was at your memorial, Dr. Lin; the next I opened my eyes and was on this bed." What he didn't say was that at the memorial he'd been crying so hard his head hurt, he felt dizzy, and then he came here.
Lin Tantan was stunned. "A memorial...?"
Hearing that someone had held a memorial for her left Lin Tantan with mixed feelings. Since coming here she'd decided to start over and rarely dwelt on the past, but those words suddenly stirred many memories. She couldn't help asking, "Are my parents all right?"
"I'm okay, just... pretty sad."
Lin Tantan sighed, then looked at Xu Tianjin. If this guy could go back and tell them he's fine here, that would be best, he didn't look like the kind of person who could handle the end of the world anyway.
Lin Tantan asked, "Can you go back?"
"Huh?"
She knew the question was pointless, if he could go back, would he really choose to stay here?
She asked, "When you arrived, did you go straight to the base? What about the original owner of this body? What have you been doing these past few days?"
Xu Tianjin scratched his head. "I don't have this body's memories. Apart from knowing his name was also Xu Tianjin, I don't know anything. Later I learned from others that the rest of his family were bitten and killed by zombies. He just cried and cried day and night, probably cried himself to death. He was a pretty defeated person."
Lin Tantan's mouth twitched. Cry himself to death? That was a new one. Still, that temperament sounded a bit like Xu Tianjin himself, she remembered he was a rich kid, spoiled and not good at dealing with hardship. Her expression changed. "How did you ask about this? Nobody noticed anything, did they?"
"No, no, I'm not that stupid."
Lin Tantan still felt uneasy. "Where are you now? Since you're alone, come stay with me." Logically and emotionally, since she didn't plan to kill him, she intended to keep him close.
Xu Tianjin suddenly looked guilty and began to stammer. Lin Tantan gave him a dubious look. "What's wrong?"
"I, I'm with Zhou Yan." Seeing Lin Tantan's gaze turn dangerous, he hurried to add, "This body used to work at Zhou Yan's company. It's a coincidence, an accident."
"A coincidence? So you weren't trying to cozy up to Zhou Yan?"
"I, I..." Xu Tianjin's eyes darted away.
Lin Tantan grabbed his collar. "You actually tried to cozy up to him? Did you tell him anything? Did you tell him everything?!"
"No, no, no!" Xu Tianjin felt as if his neck was being squeezed. "I didn't say anything!"
Lin Tantan watched him for a long moment, and when she was sure he wasn't lying she said slowly: "Historically, Zhou Yan did become successful, but he started as a minor player. Even if he later reaped success, the people around him changed countless times. Betting on him wasn't a wise move."
Xu Tianjin broke out in a cold sweat. "Y-yes, I understand." He had never thought Dr. Lin was so intimidating before, now she carried such force. He hurriedly flattered, "I didn't know you were with Ye Xiao before. Now that you're here, Zhou Yan definitely won't have it easy."
Lin Tantan's face cleared a little, he wasn't too stupid.
Ye Xiao came over to check the situation and, to his surprise, found Lin Tantan gripping a man, the same man he'd seen yesterday.
Ye Xiao stopped in his tracks.
Lin Tantan didn't look pleased. The man wore a sycophantic grin so sleazy it made Ye Xiao frown. He was about to step forward when he saw Lin Tantan's expression soften.
Lin Tantan said to Xu Tianjin, "Good that you know. Don't have any more contact with Zhou Yan, he's very calculating, and the more you hang around him the more likely he'll see through you." She let go of his collar, then her eyes snapped. "You haven't already been seen through, have you?"
"No, no, I was very careful," Xu Tianjin hurried. "Even if you kick me out I'd still not go back, what's safer and more promising than following Dr. Lin? Dr. Lin, I'll stick with you." He grovelled, eyes anxious like a big dog afraid of being abandoned.
It reminded her of how he'd looked back when he was tormented by his power-collapse condition, pitiful and clinging.
Lin Tantan always had a soft spot for her patients. "As long as you keep your mouth shut."
Xu Tianjin immediately mimed zipping his lips and beamed. "So, Dr. Lin, can I have a hug?"
Lin Tantan looked at him and nodded. Xu Tianjin grinned, opened his arms, hugged her, and buried his head on her shoulder. His eyes immediately reddened. "Dr. Lin, it's so good to see you here."
It was like finding an organization, a refuge. The panic of being dropped into this awful world, the helplessness of not knowing where to go, the constant fear of death, all of it vanished in that moment.
This was the worst of times, but he'd found a boss!
Lin Tantan's features softened too. Having crossed three hundred years to meet someone from this era, especially a familiar face, made her rather pleased.
Although this guy seemed unreliable and could be a source of trouble.
She reached out and patted his back.
Xu Tianjin began to snuffle and cry.
Lin Tantan's face darkened. "Don't wipe your tears and snot on my clothes. And what is that smell on you, how many days has it been since you showered?"
Xu Tianjin hurriedly let her go and kept sniffling. "I haven't had a bath since I arrived. There's not even enough water to drink every day."
Lin Tantan: "..."
She really wanted to change her clothes right away.
She rolled her eyes, looking at him with disgust, and pulled a tissue from her pocket. "Is this level of living really worth cozying up to someone for? Wipe yourself off. I'll find you a place to stay later, get yourself cleaned up."
But how to arrange things for Xu Tianjin? Lin Tantan thought it over and decided it was best to keep him under her watch, take him with her during the day, find someone to watch him at night, and find out exactly how he used to interact with Zhou Yan.
After thinking it through, she said, "Fine, you can stay with me for now. I have patients to see, let's talk later."
“Ah!” Xu Tianjin answered with a grin, and the two of them left. After a moment Ye Xiao stepped out from behind the cover and watched them go with a faint, detached look.
After that, Lin Tantan continued treating her patients as before. The only difference was a little tagalong who shadowed her, watching her treat cases with keen interest and serving as a free assistant. Lin Tantan found his hygiene off-putting, but the slum residents were worse, so there was no need to keep any companions or family members with the patients. With no more curious stares fixed on them, she felt considerably freer.
Xu Tianjin looked admiring. “Doctor Lin, your skills seem to be getting more and more practiced. You didn't use to treat this kind of illness often, did you?”
“Back when there were proper hospitals, I wasn't needed for this sort of thing. The theory is the same, though, once you know where the lesion is, you just target it.”
“Oh.”
Suddenly there was a commotion outside, as if someone had arrived. The guard outside called, “Doctor Lin, people from the medical department are here.”
The medical department?
Lin Tantan had just finished treating a patient and stepped outside. The visitors from the medical department were led by a shrewd but amiable middle-aged woman. She began by praising Lin Tantan effusively, her good deeds and her abilities, and then announced that the medical department would join the free clinics, deploying teams across the slums at once to treat patients and do everything possible to suppress this flu.