LRAB Chapter 23 Today's Me is Not Yesterday's Me
Chapter 23 Today's Me is Not Yesterday's Me
Finally, after putting the devastated Amber Zheng into the ambulance, Chen Yisen was able to leave the shelter safely.
On my way home, I passed by that burger shop again.
Thinking about the hamburger he ultimately didn't get to eat last night, his cravings were rekindled.
Unsurprisingly, he couldn't resist the temptation of the food and instructed Joey to pull over.
Before I even stepped into the store, I saw a familiar figure flash by.
It's Omar.
He didn't even stay with his wife at the hospital.
Chen Yisen thought to himself, "Are you some kind of quest NPC that triggers at a fixed location? Why do you always seem to appear out of thin air?"
At that moment, the other person also saw him, turned around, and quickly walked up to him.
"Dr. Chen!"
Even though it was only a two-lane road, Omar was panting heavily after jogging over it.
"Do you live around here?"
Chen Yisen felt there was no other explanation.
"Yes, a semi-basement in the public housing complex next street..."
"No wonder I often see you here." Chen Yisen noticed that the other person seemed to be a little exhausted, so he slowed down his pace slightly.
Then I noticed that Omar's face looked as if it were covered with a layer of dust.
It was described as "frequently," but it actually only happened twice.
The main reason is that the scene of their first meeting was too unforgettable.
Seeing that Chen Yisen brought up the matter of last night again, Omar scratched his head embarrassedly: "Dr. Chen, last night... I'm really sorry, I originally told them I was just going to scare you a little, but..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Yisen raised his hand and pressed it down, indicating that there was no need to mention the matter again: "Anyone with eyes can see what happened... otherwise Joey wouldn't have let you go."
He deliberately obscured Joey's identity, making it unclear whether the two were simply friends or employer and bodyguard.
Omar instinctively shuddered again upon hearing Joey's name and quickly changed the subject:
"After taking Stacey to the hospital, the doctor there told me that if we had delayed for a few more hours, it might have been necessary to remove... well... anyway, a lot of other parts of her body would have had to be removed as well. He also said that it was fortunate that the initial doctor made a good diagnosis..."
He still remembers the scene when the doctor pointed to the mannequin and described to him how critical the situation was.
But that doesn't mean I can repeat it completely.
Chen Yisen knew, of course, that his colleague was referring to the stomach, but there was no need to emphasize those details.
Speaking of Stacy, he suddenly remembered the question he had asked her when they first met, and asked, "Stacy... why weren't you with her at the hospital?"
"I..." Omar wiped his sweat somewhat awkwardly, "Neither of us has insurance. Although we can get some of it covered by that plan, it still costs a lot of money... so I just sold my blood twice."
For someone in his niche, selling blood to make ends meet in an emergency is a perfectly normal thing.
But Chen Yisen's focus was on other things.
"twice?"
He realized that Omar's skin wasn't covered in a layer of dust, but rather that it had turned pale due to excessive blood loss in a short period of time.
It's just that it appears gray because it's Black.
"Blood doesn't sell for much... It would take two sales to just cover the consultation fees," Omar explained.
"No..." Chen Yisen's medical common sense was being brutally challenged. "They agreed to let you sell twice in a row?"
“The same blood bank definitely won’t work.” Omar seemed very experienced, obviously not the first time he had done this. “But the data updates in the Octopus Plasma Company’s backend are very slow, and in reality only a very small number of A-level outlets do strict identity verification for blood sellers, so as long as you change the collection point, there will be no problem.”
"..."
Chen Yisen felt that all the medical school years he and the original owner had spent together over twenty years had been a complete waste.
And this Octopus Plasma Company... seems to be the same company that Amber Zheng bought plasma from.
Then everything matches up.
Most blood donation centers don't even verify the identity of blood sellers, so buying so-called "customized" blood products from them is simply being ripped off.
Moreover, the lack of a traceability mechanism means that the risks are completely uncontrollable.
Amber Jung's lung damage was certainly her own fault, but the same high-risk donor's blood could cause problems if used on other people.
Ironically, women of Caribbean descent, who have had multiple pregnancies, and are middle-aged are the main group of people who sell blood.
"Alright..." Chen Yisen was momentarily speechless, unsure of what to say.
Of the fifty or sixty patients he has treated today, Omar is by no means the one in the worst condition.
They weren't even among the worst batch.
At least he has a relatively healthy body, and more importantly, there are no obvious signs of the use of enhancement agents.
In the South Bronx, this already exceeds at least a third of the population.
But compared to the zombies or the chaotic monsters in the containment center who live day to day, Omar undoubtedly feels more "alive".
Therefore, his and Stacy's fate is even more heartbreaking than that of Eva, who has already lost her life.
"Oh, right." Chen Yisen suddenly remembered his side business, turned around and called out to the other person from behind, "If you see any unclaimed corpses nearby, you can contact me. I'll negotiate with the biological resources company and get a better price."
“This area…” Omar shook his head. “Most homeless people, even if they don’t live in shelters, gather in a few places that the police and immigration don’t go to much. These are gang territories, and they’ve already marked out the boundaries. If a new face like me goes in, I’ll be monitored.”
Chen Yisen thought about it and agreed.
A corpse can be worth several thousand dollars, or even a worthless one, it can be worth five or six hundred dollars.
This is enough to derive a complete industrial chain from this center.
"And I probably won't be in the Bronx for the next few days," Omar added.
"Didn't Stacy go to Lincoln Hospital?" Chen Yisen's first thought was that she was later transferred to another hospital.
"It's in Lincoln," Omar explained, "but I just saw a test candidate at Octopusa, signing up and getting a physical exam on the spot, and the requirements are very high—no one who's ever used any enhancers... Out of a dozen or so people, I'm the only one who meets the requirements."
Chen Yisen is now very sensitive to the term "drug trial".
Because the original owner was possessed by him after a drug trial.
Although it's unclear whether the problem lies in a major or minor issue, it's still quite concerning.
Furthermore, to expand on this, Joey also died mysteriously after participating in a "biotechnology clinical trial."
So I quickly pressed on, "Do you remember who the people who asked you to participate in the drug trial were? And did they say where the trial would be conducted?"
"Wait a minute..." Omar pulled out his phone and opened a photo from his album. "This is the contract I signed."
The content is a bit blurry and hard to read, but you can still make out the huge logo at the bottom of the contract paper and the prominent bold text in the "Party A" section.
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.
Okay, it's a legitimate organization.
Of course, this doesn't mean that legitimate organizations are necessarily virtuous and righteous, but generally speaking, if they want to do something shady, they will first register a foundation or independent research center as a front.
Furthermore, the contracts will be classified as trade secrets.
For example, the "Longitudinal Epigenetics Research Consortium" that signed a contract with Joey is a very typical example, the kind of organization that old-school Americans could develop PTSD just by looking at the name.
The fact that they came out directly to sign the contract and let you take photos freely shows that even if there were any shady dealings, they were very well hidden.
Afterwards, Chen Yisen briefly looked at the larger print in the contract and was basically certain that what Omar was trying was not a new drug, but a new therapy using several existing drugs off-label.
It's somewhat similar to the paper published by the original owner.
However, JAK inhibitors and IL-6 blockers have very low risks, so they can be used directly in clinical trials as long as the attending physician signs off.
The Presbyterian Medical Center, however, is going to conduct an even bolder test, which requires them to recruit volunteers first.
The only thing worth paying attention to is the compensation.
10-day closed testing: $10000;
14-day closed testing costs $15000;
21-day closed-loop testing: $25000.
To be honest, Chen Yisen was tempted for a fleeting moment.
Omar also noticed that the image was zoomed in and focused on the amount, and said with some pride, "$2.5, plus the deduction from that community health advocacy program, is almost enough to cure Stacy."
"So now you are..." Chen Yisen handed the phone back to the other party.
"Go back and pack up, and while you're at it, ask the neighbor to take care of the match... which is my dog. This is a closed-loop drug trial, and I can't leave during it."
……
After saying goodbye to Omar, Chen Yisen finally got to eat the hamburger he had been longing for.
But I always feel uneasy.
After much deliberation, I put down my hamburger and made a phone call to Polina Brittany.
The call connected almost instantly.
"Is it Lady Brittany?"
He deliberately used a serious tone, meaning he wanted to talk to you about serious matters.
But the other party didn't want to talk about serious matters with him.
"Oh my, so-called Lady Brittany." A deliberately affected, sarcastic voice came through the receiver. "Yesterday at the hotel, you were calling me Polecica so sweetly, saying it was our first time and you'd be responsible for the rest of my life. And now, only a day after we've slept together, you're pretending not to know me?"
The original owner's memories from a period before his rebirth were very vague. Chen Yisen could only confirm that the two of them did sleep together, but he didn't know exactly what they did.
However, Polechka is an extremely affectionate variant of the name Polina in the Russian language system, while Brittany is clearly a French surname.
Therefore, he felt that the other party might be lying to him.
He simply started spouting off: "You can't step into the same river twice. I am today a continuation of yesterday, but I may not be the same person."
This is not an attempt to shirk responsibility.
The main point is that he was yesterday and he is today are not the same person.
Of course, Polina was unaware of these things and simply thought Chen Yisen was joking.
If an ordinary person said something like that, they would definitely be publicly criticized and ridiculed.
Unfortunately, the latter's modeling is so authoritative that with such a face, what it says is completely unimportant.
It all felt like flirting.
"Tch—getting all artsy now." Polina showed no sign of anger whatsoever. "What, it's only been a day, and you can't wait to see your sister again?"
"But not today, my sister has to work overtime... How about tomorrow night, same room?"
"Or you can choose the location, and I'll pay for the room."
"..."
Chen Yisen: "I have important business to attend to."
"Isn't procreation the most important thing?"
"..."
He was completely out of options, so he could only tentatively call out "Polechka" again before he could get to the point.
"A friend of mine signed a trial contract with Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center."
"Hmm, a big spender." Polina commented directly.
"They're certainly rich. $2.5 for a 21-day full-cycle test. Is that price reasonable?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
"It is indeed a bit much..." Polina seemed unsure, "But if it's a completely closed test, and the subjects are in a clean state... according to our standards, they haven't participated in similar drug tests in the past three years, and haven't taken antibiotics, painkillers, or stimulants in the past year, then it's entirely possible to set this price..."