Chapter 325: Sudden Change!!!

"You... you didn't send me a note?"

Li Zhiyuan froze.

A sigh came from the other end of the line.

"I remember telling you we always play it safe. I couldn't even be sure you were telling the truth, so why would I send you a note?"

"We'd never take a risk like that."

"Alright, get out of there. From what you've said, this place is hiding more secrets. Leave the rest to us."

"..."

Li Zhiyuan was completely dumbfounded.

Unable to make sense of it, he finally asked, "How soon are you taking action?"

"..."

The youth on the other end fell silent for a few seconds before answering.

"I can't give you specifics. I can only tell you it'll be soon."

"Delaying only invites trouble."

Li Zhiyuan hadn't expected them to move so fast. "I... I have to go back in first," he said hurriedly. "There are a lot of patients in there."

"They're innocent. Knowing that crazy woman, if you act now, she'll probably use them as hostages."

"No, you need to leave right now," the voice on the other end said with absolute certainty.

"Haven't you realized something's wrong?"

"What's wrong...?"

Li Zhiyuan's heart gave a violent lurch.

"You went into that room, and that woman wasn't with you... so why didn't a single person cry for help?"

Those words sent Li Zhiyuan's heart plummeting.

"Are you saying..."

His voice trembled in disbelief.

"Run. Run, now."

The other end offered a final piece of advice:

"There are always sacrifices on this path."

The call abruptly disconnected.

Li Zhiyuan stared blankly at the disconnected Information Component. He raised his head toward the empty hospital gates in the distance, momentarily torn between advancing and retreating.

Then, a small, thin figure flashed through his mind.

No, he had to go back.

The others at least had the ability to run, but Li Ya didn't. Furthermore, that woman was so fond of her; there was no way she would let Li Ya go.

Over his four years in this hospital, perhaps because of his deceased older sister, he had long since come to view Li Ya as his own sibling.

With that thought, he set his recorded footage to send on a timer, took a deep breath, and sprinted toward the entrance.

...

...

Meanwhile.

Chen Xiaojing's eyes were dark and cold as she slammed the gas pedal to the floor.

Sitting beside her, Yan Jing sighed helplessly and grabbed the handle above his window.

"Slow down, slow down. There's no rush."

He hadn't expected Li Zhiyuan to actually pry the lock open, much less that the doctor had backing.

This threw a wrench into his plans.

He and Chen Xiaojing had just been discussing business, and by the time he received Xiao Xin's message, it was already too late.

"I knew there were ghosts in the hospital!!!"

Breathing heavily, Chen Xiaojing ruthlessly floored the accelerator and let out a savage laugh.

"Just you watch. Watch how I chop him into pieces!!!"

Who could have imagined that this girl, who normally looked so frail and weak, was actually far more ruthless than the so-called Nightfall Queen? To her, murder was as mundane as eating a meal. Drugs and past experiences had long since twisted her mind. She was sick—severely sick.

The people locked in that room weren't just patients; they also included the hospital's true "doctors"—her "ghosts."

When that man broke in, the "ghosts" immediately sent her a message.

Now, she had issued orders to the hospital. If the man returned to that building, he would never walk out again.

With things escalating to this point, the situation had slipped slightly out of Yan Jing's control.

In his plans, Chen Xiaojing would die, but not today.

Li Zhiyuan wouldn't die—at least, not in this plan.

Now, everything was spiraling in a bad direction.

"Drive slower. Don't hit anyone," he said, doing his best to stall for time.

"Don't worry! I once drank two cases of the strongest liquor from the Rose Bar and still went street racing with Song Haozhe and his crew on the mountain roads all night."

Chen Xiaojing had completely descended into madness.

Yan Jing certainly could have knocked her out, but after some thought, he decided against it.

He simply let the blood-red sports car weave rapidly down the highway.

"Look more at the good side of this world."

Papa Rat's words replayed in his mind.

He decided to give it a try.

...

...

Li Zhiyuan suppressed his anxiety as much as possible. Passing the security booth, he greeted the guard as usual.

Seeing no unusual reaction from the guard, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked briskly into the hospital building.

Upon entering, he immediately searched for Li Ya.

Right then, a trembling figure approached him. It was an old man wearing a white undershirt.

"Doctor Li, did that cat come today?"

"N-no, it didn't."

Li Zhiyuan knew who the old man was asking about—the black cat that served food. The old man had been constantly asking this over the past few days.

"Alright. I actually miss him quite a bit... hm... his creativity."

The old man racked his brains to use a newly learned vocabulary word.

Li Zhiyuan was in no mood to chat about this right now. He forced a smile.

"Grandpa Sun, do you know where Li Ya is?"

"That girl? She's just hanging out under the tree!"

The old man pointed at the only tree in the open-air lobby.

"Okay."

Li Zhiyuan nodded. He looked at the old man, hesitating over whether to tell him what was going on.

Smiling, the old man pulled a piece of industrial maltose from his pocket and handed it to Li Zhiyuan.

"Doctor Li, here's a piece of candy. Someone else gave it to me, but didn't you say I should eat less sugar? You have a taste."

Looking at the candy in his hand, Li Zhiyuan took a deep breath, then smiled and said, "Grandpa Sun, you've been doing really well lately. I'll give you a chance to get some fresh air. Go take a walk outside."

"Really?!"

The old man was overjoyed, then looked at Li Zhiyuan a bit sheepishly.

"Can Zhang Wanxia come out for a walk with me? She's been doing well too."

He was referring to an old woman about his age.

"She can."

Li Zhiyuan smiled, then called out to the lobby:

"Everyone! Everyone!!! Look over here!!!!"

Once everyone's gaze had gathered on him, he said, "You've all behaved well these past few days. The director said you get an hour of outdoor time. Head out now!"

"Whoever runs the slowest will have to stay behind!"

"Woohoo!!! Long live Doctor Li!!!"

"Doctor Li is awesome!!!"

Everyone immediately rushed outside with delight.

Li Zhiyuan sprinted straight toward the tree without missing a beat. The young girl, just over ten years old, was currently crouching in front of a weed growing from the ground, giggling innocently. She was the only static figure amidst the flowing crowd.

"Li Ya! Let's go! We have to hurry somewhere else!"

Li Zhiyuan grabbed the little girl's arm.

But the little girl just giggled:

"Doctor... birdie..."

She pointed at the flower in front of her and smiled.

"Yeah, I know it's a birdie. Come on, I'll take you to see other birdies somewhere else, okay?"

Li Zhiyuan coaxed her in the gentlest voice he could muster.

"Birdie... birdie..."

The girl stubbornly pointed at the flower in front of her, laughing foolishly.

This confused Li Zhiyuan a bit. Although the girl was dim-witted, she still grasped the basic concept of a bird's shape. Even an unmoving bird wouldn't count as a bird in her eyes.

Had her condition deteriorated...?

Li Zhiyuan's heart grew increasingly uneasy. Time was ticking away. If they didn't leave now, it would be too late.

Left with no other choice, he channeled weird energy into his right hand and swiftly knocked the girl unconscious.

As a general practitioner, he wasn't skilled in combat, but in order to perform basic surgical procedures, he at least possessed Second Tier strength. Throwing the unconscious Li Ya over his shoulder, he sprinted rapidly toward the exit.

But unexpectedly, a piercing alarm suddenly blared.

Flashing blue and red lights danced overhead. Startled, he rushed to the building's entrance, only to see from afar that the patients were jammed up in front of the sliding iron gate outside.

He immediately ran over.

"What happened?!"

He looked toward the security booth, pretending nothing was amiss, but realized the usual guard had already been knocked unconscious on the ground.

Sitting in the security booth now was a burly man he hadn't seen before.

At the same time, an arm-thick black cannon barrel poked out from the booth, aiming directly at the crowd. The man sneered, "Get back."

"Sir... the patients are innocent—"

"Get back!!!"

The cold barrel twitched, and Li Zhiyuan flinched right along with it.

"Okay, we're retreating."

"Everyone! We're going back inside!!!"

Under the combined deterrent of the cannon and Li Zhiyuan's orders, the crowd slowly retreated into the hospital.

"Doctor Li, what's happening?"

"Yeah, Doctor Li, why does that man have a cannon..."

"We're doomed, we're absolutely doomed. I knew it, this hospital isn't normal..."

The cacophony of their overlapping voices mixed with the blaring alarms, making it nearly impossible for Li Zhiyuan to think.

"Don't panic... don't panic..."

Li Zhiyuan calmed his mind and thought carefully.

The hospital was on lockdown now. Forcing their way out was impossible. The fact that the man hadn't fired yet must be due to Chen Xiaojing's orders. Everyone here was a patient, and he was their anchor; he couldn't afford to panic.

"Listen up, everyone. This is just a standard security drill."

He tried to soothe the patients' nerves, simultaneously preparing himself to negotiate with Chen Xiaojing.

His only leverage right now was the scheduled release of his videos and photos.

...

...

"Hello? Song Haozhe."

Chen Xiaojing wildly cranked the steering wheel, threading the needle through the narrow gaps between cars as she dialed Song Haozhe's number.

"What do you want?"

Song Haozhe was taken aback. Chen Xiaojing rarely called him by his full name.

"If any videos get sent to the newspapers and media outlets under your control soon, intercept them all. I mean all of them! Otherwise, I'll send your little secret directly to the Song Wang Group, and we can just die together."

Chen Xiaojing's face was twisted in a savage scowl. Right now, she was like a wild horse backed against a cliff—she was staking everything on one final gamble.

Even when threatened by Yan Jing beside her, she hadn't chosen to cooperate with Song Haozhe because this move was an absolute peril. But with things at this point, she had no other choice.

"Are you insane, Chen Xiaojing?"

Even a madman like Song Haozhe couldn't help but widen his eyes, his breathing growing incredibly heavy.

"Are you threatening me?"

"That's right, I'm threatening you. Worst comes to worst, we can just die together. I popped two Mental Potions today, and my brain can't even think straight right now. But if a single video gets out, you can go to hell."

With that, Chen Xiaojing abruptly hung up, took off her Information Component, and tossed it out the window.

On the other end, Song Haozhe furiously called back, only to find the call wouldn't connect.

"Fucking crazy bitch!"

"You bunch of ungrateful mutts!!!"

"Fuck!!!"

The joy he'd felt about meeting his new toy, Yan Jing, vanished entirely.

Nobody expected such an abrupt turn of events.

He always knew Chen Xiaojing had secrets, just like him.

But he never imagined that frail-looking woman could go this utterly insane.

Finally, after a long, dark contemplation, he activated his comm unit and dialed a number. His voice was so deep and grim it was practically dripping:

"Tell the media outlets below us that for the next three hours, they are forbidden from reporting any news. Whoever disobeys gets shut down."

And just like that, Li Zhiyuan's plan was entirely locked down before it even began.

...

...

Just as Li Zhiyuan repeatedly psyched himself up, preparing the details of the impending negotiation—

Suddenly, a slip of paper drifted down from above.

"The other side has locked down the media. Running is the only way out."

Again!!!

Li Zhiyuan shot up from beneath the tree, staring at the note that had just appeared in his hand.

Only, compared to last time, the handwriting on this note was crooked, as if the writer was in an awkward position and had scribbled it in secret.

"Locked down the media..."

He had little power or influence, so he could naturally only contact reporters in the Muke District. And if he blasted it to the submission inboxes of newspapers in other districts, given the sheer volume of spam they received daily, his message would most likely sink without a trace.

What should he do...?

He began to panic.

The note told him to run, but the gate was blocked. How was he supposed to run?

If possible, he wanted to send a note back to that mysterious person, but how?

Should he just write something?

Just as he was pacing in frantic circles, he suddenly noticed Old Man Zhang chatting with an old lady nearby.

A thought struck him, and he hurriedly walked over.

"Grandpa Zhang."

"Yes, Doctor Li, what is it?"

Like a grade schooler caught by his homeroom teacher, the old man hastily released the old lady's hand and stood up.

"Don't you always say you know our hospital really well?"

Li Zhiyuan asked.

"Yeah. I'm not boasting, but even the director might not know this hospital as well as I do!"

The old man patted his chest proudly.

"Then... do you know if our hospital has a back door...?"

Li Zhiyuan's eyes flickered with hope.