I Can Hear Your Organs Snitching on You

I can hear the voices of every organ in the human body. In my three years of practicing medicine, I've never misdiagnosed a single patient. For instance, a young man with wobbly legs comes in for a consultation, suspecting he has a terminal illness. His kidneys, however, start cursing up a storm. "You're juggling eight girlfriends at the same time. Even a workhorse on a farm doesn't get worked this hard!" I try my best not to laugh, prescribe him some supplements, and casually suggest he learn a little time management. Then, a well-dressed white-collar professional walks in and tells me she's experiencing heart palpitations and dizziness and insists that she must have congenital heart disease. Her heart immediately protests loudly in my ear. "You drink three iced Americanos a day! I'm about to burst out of your ribcage and start doing calisthenics!" I smile and prescribe her some chamomile tea. Less than half a month later, she returns with a healthy, rosy complexion to present me with a banner of appreciation. From that moment on, I earn the nickname "the Human X-Ray". … One afternoon, a woman walks in with a listless-looking boy. Maeve Brown looks sick with worry. "Dr. Young, please take a look at him! Lennon has been suffering from headaches, and he has already taken several days off school due to them." However, his brain is practically throwing a party in my ear. "Hell yeah, I successfully skipped class! I'm going to grind ranked matches all night long!" I smile as I diagnose him with malingering, and Lennon White goes home with a flushed face. Ten days later, Maeve and Hubert White burst into my office. This time, Lennon's complexion is pallid. Bracing himself against the doorframe, his body sways uncontrollably. Initially, I assume he's putting on another performance. However, the moment I hear the voices emanating from within his body, my mind goes blank. I immediately push him out of the room and dial 911. "I'd rather treat a dog with this condition than treat you!" Chapter 1 I had just ended the call when Lennon White's stomach let out another piercing wail. "Help… it hurts so much! After drinking the orange juice Mae gave me, it feels like my lining's melting!" His liver also cried out weakly for help. "We're shutting down... Quick, save me!" There was no time to lose. If I wasted another minute, this kid would be dead. I scooped him into my arms and sprinted toward the emergency room. "Quick! Get ready to pump his stomach!" Hubert White was completely thrown off by the scene I was making and hurried after me. "Why'd you suddenly call the cops, Dr. Young? Lennon just has a severe cold." Maeve, who was beside him, suppressed the panic in her eyes and grabbed the sleeve of my white coat. "He's right, Dr. Young. Lennon has just been exhausted from the stress of his midterm exams lately. If you make such a huge fuss, you're going to frighten him—" Before she could finish her sentence, Lennon began convulsing wildly on the hospital bed, his eyes rolling back until only the whites were visible. Hubert blanched when he saw that. Paying him no mind, I yelled at the nurse, "The patient's suffering from acute, severe poisoning. We need to pump his stomach and run a full toxicology screen right now!" The double doors of the emergency room slammed shut. Maeve pretended to be anxious as she hurried over to Hubert's side. "Hubert, this doctor hasn't even run any tests yet and she's already jumped straight to poisoning; she's so unreliable. Let's transfer Lennon to a bigger hospital before it's too late..." I turned around, staring at her long and hard. "It'll take at least 40 minutes to reach the Metropolitan General Hospital. Are you really afraid I'll misdiagnose him, or are you afraid I'll save him and ruin your plan?" After being called out on the spot, she immediately buried her face in her hands and sobbed, "I'm only worried about Lennon, Dr. Young. Why are you maligning me?" As soon as her words fell, the cops arrived. Isaac Moore, who was leading the team, flashed his badge. "Who called the cops? What's going on here?" I rushed up to him. "I did! The patient, Lennon White, suffered acute, severe poisoning right after drinking orange juice Maeve Brown squeezed for him. Captain Moore, please send officers to their home right now to collect the drinking glass and the remaining juice for testing. If you don't hurry, the evidence might be destroyed…" In a heartbeat, all eyes were on Maeve. The color drained from her face, and she hurriedly waved her hands in denial. "That's impossible, officer! Perhaps he has been pigging out on junk food these last few days and ended up with food poisoning?" Captain Moore frowned and gazed at her sternly. "Ms. Brown, if you're innocent, we'll clear your name. But right now, please hand over your house keys. We need to secure the scene immediately." Tears welled up in Maeve's eyes as she clutched Hubert's sleeve. "Hubert, I get out of bed before dawn every day to cook for Lennon. I go out of my way to make sure he gets proper nutrition. Are you really going to let an outsider slander me like this?" Hubert's eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the tightly shut doors of the emergency room. He flung her hand away and rasped, "Lennon's appetite has been poor lately. Aside from the food you personally make for him, he hasn't touched anything else." Her waterworks started again, her eyes filled with utter disbelief. "Hubert… you're doubting me as well?" Hubert looked at her with an unreadable gaze. "I only trust evidence." He then pulled out his keys and handed them to Captain Moore. "Here are the keys. Even if you have to turn the entire house upside down, find out the truth!" Right after saying that, the emergency room doors swung open, and a nurse rushed out excitedly. "Who's the patient's family? The patient's come to!" Chapter 2 When the doors to the emergency room finally opened, Lennon was transferred to a regular ward. Lying limp on the hospital bed, his small face was pale and lifeless. Captain Moore treaded softly toward the bed and asked gently, "Lennon, tell me, what did you eat at home today? When you drank the orange juice, did it taste strange?" Maeve's eyes, however, remained locked on Lennon. I immediately stepped forward and blocked her line of sight. "Be honest with us, Lennon. The police officer is here. No one would dare to hurt you." Lennon took a look at Captain Moore and responded quietly, "The orange juice Mae squeezed was sweet. But... as soon as I finished it, my tummy started hurting really bad on its own." Noticing the grave looks settling over the room, Lennon exerted all his strength to raise his hand and grab Captain Moore's sleeve. "Mae's so good to me, officer. Please don't take her away… She gets up before dawn every day to make me breakfast, and she even buys me limited-edition figurines. When I have nightmares at night, she always holds me until I fall asleep… "My body's just acting up, officer. Please don't blame her…" Because he was overly emotional, the heart monitor let out rapid, high-pitched beeps. Startled, Hubert immediately lunged forward and held Lennon's restless hands. Maeve, who was beside him, muffled her sobs and approached the hospital bed. Then, she tenderly touched Lennon's forehead, which was covered in cold sweat. "Lennon... my good boy... Hubert, did you hear that? He really appreciates everything I've done... Now, even if I were wrongly accused and died with my name stained today, I would accept it!" Guilt flooded Hubert's eyes in an instant. His voice was strained as he apologized. "I'm so sorry, Maeve. I can't believe I doubted you because of a baseless accusation from an outsider. I've seen everything you've done for Lennon." Hubert drew a deep breath and confronted me sternly. "Dr. Young, now that Lennon has spoken up, it's clear that there was nothing wrong with that orange juice! Based solely on your own assumptions, you accused my family of poisoning it in front of the cops. I genuinely don't understand why you're so hostile toward my wife!" Maeve lifted her tear-streaked face from Hubert's chest, looking as though she had suffered the ultimate injustice. "Dr. Young, I know I'm his stepmother, so people are always going to look at me through tinted glasses. However, you can't accuse me of poisoning him based on nothing but your whim and dismiss the two years of love, care, and devotion I've given Lennon!" I stared intently at Lennon, who was lying on the hospital bed. At that moment, his liver's voice blared in my head again. "He's lying! The second he swallowed that juice, I was burned so badly that I was convulsing. How could there possibly be nothing wrong with it?" "Exactly! If it weren't for the timely emergency treatment, I would've stopped working long ago!" Captain Moore's brows knitted as well, looking at me with a complicated expression. "Now that the kid himself claims there was nothing wrong with the juice, it's going to be hard for us to dig deeper…" I stared at Maeve, who discreetly looked pleased with herself, and forced myself to remain calm. "The patient may have chosen to hide the truth out of fear, but his body's physiological response cannot lie. The remaining orange juice in the glass has already been sent to the laboratory for expedited testing." I took a step forward and hardened my tone. "Whether you've been terribly wronged or you're guilty of premeditated murder, the truth will reveal itself shortly!" Chapter 3 Half an hour later, Officer Ford pushed open the door to the hospital room with a lab report. I hastily stepped forward, my eyes glued to the report in his grip. "How did it turn out? What kind of poison was in there?" Officer Ford took one look at me and shook his head. "There are no toxic substances in the residue from the cup. There aren't even any pesticide traces. It's just pure, natural orange juice." I took the report from him and pored through it. There seriously was nothing wrong with it. Yet, I was well aware that this was definitely not a case of ordinary food poisoning. There had to be something I had missed. Hubert's voice was low and restrained. "The lab report's right here in black and white. The orange juice was fine. Dr. Young, what evidence do you have that makes you insist it was poisoning?" I lifted my gaze to look him in the eye. "The patient's liver's going into acute failure. That is my evidence." Hubert raised his voice. "Lennon buys junk food when he's out all the time. We can't possibly keep track of everything he eats—" I coldly cut him off. "Lennon has had almost no appetite for the last two weeks, hasn't he?" Before he could answer, Maeve guiltily chimed in, "Lennon's been such a picky eater lately. He always sneaks out to buy street snacks near his school gate. There's nothing I can do…" "Besides a poor appetite, has he also had recurring abdominal pain, fatigue, and dizzy spells?" Hubert's brows drew together. "How'd you know…" I set the lab report on the table and explained calmly, "Because this isn't a case of sudden acute poisoning. It's the result of a toxin building up over time." The air in the hospital room instantly went dead silent. Without giving them a moment to catch their breath, I continued, "Sure, the orange juice came back clean. But after drinking it, why did the patient develop acute organ damage within just a few minutes?" "What are you getting at?" Captain Moore scowled. I paused before adding, "The juice was simply the catalyst." As soon as my words sank in, a panicked look flashed through Maeve's eyes for a moment. The very next second, she clutched her baby bump and gasped. "Hubert... my stomach's cramping up all of a sudden!" Hubert's expression shifted dramatically, and he hurriedly supported her. "Don't scare me, Maeve! You must've been frightened by being falsely accused and treated like a criminal just now. It probably startled you so badly that it affected the baby!" Leaning weakly against him, Maeve sounded exceptionally understanding. "I'm fine… Please don't blame Dr. Young; she was just so anxious that she blurted out those things without much thought…" He tightened his arm around her before whipping his head around to glare at me. "Dr. Young, my wife's pregnant, and your baseless accusations have distressed her so much she's in danger of a miscarriage! The second something goes wrong, you throw mud at the patient's family member. Is that how you practice medicine?" Holding his gaze calmly, I responded firmly, "Mr. White, the reason I am standing here and refusing to back down is that, as a doctor, the only thing I care about is the life lying on that hospital bed." I remained rooted to the spot, tuning out their endless squabbling as my brain replayed the whole logical chain at lightning speed. Lennon's organs' cries couldn't be faked, and the burning sensation in his stomach had erupted in an instant. The toxin had already been lying dormant inside Lennon's body. This glass of orange juice was nothing more than a trigger—a catalyst that had instantly detonated all the toxins. In that case… there was only one possible truth left. I raised my head, my gaze cutting across the hospital bed and meeting Maeve's eyes head-on. Resting feebly against Hubert's chest, the corners of her lips curled into a faint, provocative smile. I closed the lab report and turned to Captain Moore. My voice was calmer and more certain than ever. "Give me one last chance, Captain Moore. I know where the true murder weapon is hidden." Chapter 4 The door to the ward had been pushed open at some point, and the corridor was now packed with curious onlookers. Maeve's frail demeanor as she clutched her stomach won everyone's sympathy. One of them began speaking up for her. "Does this person even know how to be a doctor? Because she can't figure out the cause of the illness, she just throws dirt on the patient's family and blames them? How outrageous! Officer, hurry up and look into whether she's just trying to shirk responsibility because of her own poor medical skills!" After hearing the crowd's support, a triumphant glint flashed in Maeve's eyes. Biting her lower lip, she looked as though she'd endured this injustice for a long time. "Ten days ago, I brought Lennon here to see Dr. Young. "He was already complaining of a stomachache back then, but she didn't even run a single test; she took one look at him and said he was pretending to be sick just to skip school. Then, she forced us to leave and sent us home!" The crowd outside erupted the moment the words left her mouth. "My goodness! She brought him here ten days ago? Isn't this essentially a misdiagnosis?" "He had stomach pain, yet she claimed he was faking it? What kind of quack is she?" Maeve's tears streamed down her face in large droplets. "Now, she's afraid she'll be held responsible for misdiagnosing him back then, so she's accusing me—the stepmother—of poisoning him! Dr. Young, how can you be so cruel? Are you seriously going to destroy our family just to protect your own career?" Hubert, who was beside him, completely lost it. He jabbed his finger at my nose and bellowed, "Ten days ago, you were the one who delayed Lennon's treatment, and now you're attempting to accuse my wife of murder! Officer, she filed a false report to frame us. I'm going to report you to the State Medical Board until your license is revoked!" Everyone in the ward stared at me with the same look they would give a murderer. However, at that moment, I didn't feel a single flicker of emotion. I took a step forward and closed the distance between Maeve and myself. My gaze landed on her slightly protruding belly, deliberately raising my voice. "Ms. Brown, you put on quite a performance. Now that you have a child of your own, the stepchild in front of you has naturally become a nuisance, hasn't he? It looks like you're in a hurry to clear the way for the legitimate heir growing inside you." Maeve's face flushed crimson when I exposed her true intentions. She immediately snapped back at me, "Nonsense! Ever since I married into the White family, I've treated Lennon like my own son. Even after I found out I was pregnant, I've never mistreated him in the slightest!" I leaned forward slightly, closing in on her and springing the ultimate trap. "Oh? Is that so? Since you're such an exceptional mother, I'd love to know how you usually treat this beloved son of yours. What kind of diet have you got him on that managed to drive his organs into total failure?" Maeve glared at me maliciously, eagerly portraying herself as the victim while taking credit for her supposed devotion. "Lennon has always had a weak stomach, so I never allowed him to eat the junk from outside. Even when my morning sickness was at its worst, I still forced myself out of bed at 5:00 am every day to cook for him because I cared about his health! "I baked him additive-free bread with my own hands, bought the most expensive mixed nuts, and ground them one by one to make homemade jam for him! I worked myself to the bone every single day, treating him like royalty, and now you're accusing me of poisoning him?" Maeve cried her heart out. The patients outside the room were moved to tears. One after another, they started cursing at me, demanding that a malicious, cold-hearted doctor like me scram. I narrowed my eyes, seizing on the crucial slip of her tongue. "You personally made him nut jam every day at 5:00 am, without fail, is that right?" "That's right! I have nothing to hide!" Maeve lifted her chin, looking as though she had been deeply wronged. Refusing to spare another glance at her hypocritical face, I shifted my gaze to the police officer beside us. "Captain Moore, you can officially arrest her now." The entire room went radio silent. All the insults died in their throats. Captain Moore was visibly caught off guard. His brows knitted as he asked, "What did you just say, Dr. Young?" The triumphant glint in Maeve's eyes instantly froze. Then, she shrieked louder than before. "Have you lost your mind, Kyra Young? On what grounds are you arresting me?" I took in her hysterical state and responded firmly, "On the grounds of what you just said. That sentence alone is irrefutable evidence that you intentionally committed murder!"