"Ma... ma..." Lu Zeyan made the sound, not because he recognized her, but because his mouth had formed the syllables randomly. He reached out toward her, fingers grasping at air.
Mrs. Lu flinched back like he'd tried to strike her. "No. No, this isn't.... this can't be...."
"We don't have answers yet," Dr. Chen said quietly. "All his scans are clear. There's no physical cause we can find. But the cognitive decline is... significant."
"Significant?" Mrs. Lu's laugh was borderline hysterical. "My son has the mental capacity of an infant! That's not significant, that's catastrophic!" She whirled on him. "Fix it! Do whatever it costs, bring in specialists from anywhere in the world, I don't care..."
"We're doing everything we can," Dr. Chen assured her. "But Mrs. Lu, I need you to understand, we've never seen anything like this. Whatever has happened to your son, it's not following any known medical pattern."
