Chapter 25: Hematologic Malignancy

Xu Chen fell silent after reading the diagnosis, feeling completely baffled.

The condition was highly peculiar. Not only was the onset incredibly sudden, but the medication seemed entirely ineffective. It was as if this illness were something other than chronic myeloid leukemia. Yet, the diagnostic reports could not be lying; every subsequent bone marrow biopsy clearly demonstrated the power of science, with abnormally high values explicitly recorded. A misdiagnosis was impossible.

It was strange—truly strange.

"How is it, Old Xu?" Song Tian asked, his voice trembling as he noticed the change in Xu Chen’s expression.

"I can't tell," Xu Chen replied, unable to bluntly state that there was no hope for his father. He deflected, "But I know a senior, a medical student at the research institute. He should be able to make sense of this. If you agree, send the documents to me, and I’ll have him take a look."

Song Tian nodded, took his phone back, and forwarded the files to Xu Chen.

Xu Chen immediately forwarded them to Ouyang Xing, asking him to see if there was any hope for recovery. That way, he could simply show Song Tian the chat history later.

"My senior agreed, but it will take some time. Honestly, rather than waiting here for someone else's opinion, why don't you go see your father yourself?"

Song Tian’s eyes lit up. "You're right. I need to see my dad."

"Ask the counselor for leave. I’ll go with you."

The hospital wasn't particularly far from the school, but in his anxiety, Song Tian hailed a taxi.

Upon arriving at the hospital, just as they were about to enter, Ouyang Xing called.

"I’ve reviewed the case. I discussed it with some members of our institute’s support team, and it’s confirmed that this is outside our specific expertise. However, the grandfather of one of our graduate students works at that very hospital. He asked around, and as it turns out, he’s the one in charge of your patient. This case is quite bizarre. Even the leading experts at their hospital have studied it and established a special team to monitor the condition closely, but there’s truly nothing they can do. The disease is progressing with abnormal speed, and he’s nearly in critical condition now. At this point, it’s just like the Aspergillus fungal infection cases we’re researching—we can only try our best to treat it, and if we can’t, we collect medical data for research."

Xu Chen glanced at Song Tian, who was waiting for the elevator with an anxious and worried expression. "That doesn't sound right. Even if chronic myeloid leukemia progresses rapidly, it shouldn't reach a critical state in just a month, right?"

"It’s hard to say. They didn't provide details, only saying the case is extremely unique..."

The elevator arrived just then. Xu Chen had intended to keep talking to Ouyang Xing, but he discovered that the elevator was built so well that it completely killed the signal.

Regardless, the patient was just a few floors up. They would be there in minutes.

After entering the floor and inquiring with a nurse, they found the room number. Song Tian hesitated several times before finally pushing the door open.

Xu Chen noticed it was a VIP room. The air was thick with the scent of disinfectant. On the bed, a middle-aged man lay drowsy, while beside him sat a haggard but beautiful woman in a white-collar uniform, looking at the man with sorrow—it seemed she had come straight from a meeting.

"Sis, how is Dad?"

"Hm? Song Tian, why are you here? It’s not Sunday."

"Dad is in this state; how could I stay at school? Besides, I’ve already asked the counselor for leave..."

Xu Chen paid little attention to their conversation. He was here to assess the patient's condition so he could act as a consultant for Song Tian later. He knew more than Song Tian and could better process what the doctors said, translating it for him afterward.

The man on the bed lay quietly. Upon hearing Song Tian, he turned his head weakly, his face breaking into a smile that was both reproachful and happy.

Song Tian pulled up a chair and gestured for Xu Chen to sit, then leaned in close to listen to his father. His father reached a hand out from under the quilt, grasping Song Tian’s. They spoke, and within a few sentences, Song Tian couldn't stop his tears from falling.

Though human emotions are not always shared, Xu Chen felt a flicker of sympathy.

Song Tian explained why he had brought Xu Chen, which moved his father even more. The man gestured to the pile of items on the side table. There was a neatly organized stack of diagnostic reports, prescriptions, and medical records, along with perfectly sorted medications—it was clear someone had put a lot of effort into it. Xu Chen looked at the sister with surprise, then back at the patient.

Though the patient was haggard, he was kept clean. The sister clearly cared for him deeply; there was no doubt about that.

Xu Chen picked up the medication boxes: Nilotinib, Dasatinib, Bosutinib, and the third-generation drug Ponatinib. Anyone unaware might think they were trying to summon a dragon by collecting "tinib" drugs.

Opening the boxes, he saw that some of each had been consumed—at least a week's worth. It seemed these had been confirmed ineffective; continuing them would be useless.

Just as Xu Chen was about to pick up the neatly organized diagnostic reports, his sharp eyes caught a CT scan envelope behind the nightstand. He felt a bit puzzled—whose CT scan was this?

"Has he had a CT scan?"

The sister froze. She looked visibly flustered when she saw Xu Chen holding the envelope, but after a glance at her father, she nodded in silence.

Xu Chen was curious. CT scans involve radiation, and excessive radiation can induce leukemia. A leukemia patient getting a CT scan was essentially stacking a debuff. If the hospital’s top experts were involved and had established a special task force, any diagnostic or treatment error should have been caught, so this CT scan shouldn't have existed.

Still, Xu Chen wanted to know what the scan showed. He pulled out the films, and at the sight of them, he froze in his tracks.

The room was dim, so he turned on his phone’s flashlight, shining it against the wall to use the white light’s diffuse reflection to examine the film.

He fell silent.

On the film were two severely deformed, hyperplastic thigh bones, tightly fused to the pelvis as if they were trying to lock in place. Their density appeared uneven; the joints were fragile, yet the mid-sections of the bones and the newly formed bone tissue were exceptionally hard.

Xu Chen didn't fully understand the scan and couldn't identify the specific disease, but it was clearly abnormal bone hyperplasia.

He looked at the father on the bed, and sure enough, there were abnormal protrusions under the quilt where his thighs were.

This hadn't been mentioned in the messages his sister sent. Was this a new development? Xu Chen quickly searched for information to see if chronic myeloid leukemia could cause bone hyperplasia. The answer was that everything could be related to bones, and all of it could potentially be a hematological malignancy.