Stored

Officer Ma took off Jiang Chu's white coat, then wrapped it around his handcuffed hands to cover everything up before warning him, "I'll give you five minutes."

"Thank you." Jiang Chu choked out.

Officer Ma summoned two officers and ordered, "Keep a close eye on him. When the time is up, take him straight back to the station!"

"Understood!"

Officer Ma nodded and watched the two men lead Jiang Chu away. Still cursing under his breath, he headed off in another direction.

But before he had taken more than two steps, his phone rang. Officer Ma answered it and, after listening for a while, nodded. "Mm. You little brats actually did something right this time! You caught him so quickly?"

The voice on the other end said, "That guy ran into the back alley behind the hospital. By the time we caught up, he was already unconscious on the ground. Looks like a flowerpot fell from upstairs and hit him!"

Officer Ma froze.

First, a criminal had bitten off his tongue and killed himself. Now another piece of trash had been struck by a flowerpot... Was this really karma coming full circle, retribution never failing?

After leaving the elevator, the second room around the corner at the end of the corridor was his son's ward. Jiang Chu kept his head lowered while the two plainclothes officers followed him at an unhurried pace.

People occasionally passing through the corridor cast strange looks his way—the white coat hanging over his hands was probably only a source of psychological comfort. With two officers following behind someone who looked like this, it was easy to imagine what they might think.

Jiang Chu even saw familiar nurses. They wanted to come over and speak to him, but Jiang Chu stopped them with a shake of his head.

He gave a bitter smile. He walked this corridor often, but had never felt it was so long.

"Officers, could you let me go in alone later? I promise I won't run... Besides, I can't run anyway." Jiang Chu turned and pleaded with them.

One of the officers thought for a moment before nodding. This was the seventh floor, and Jiang Chu was still wearing handcuffs. There was no way he could escape.

At that moment, a janitor pushed a cart toward them from ahead. The two plainclothes officers led Jiang Chu aside to make room.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, the janitor suddenly rammed the cart into the three of them. With a flick of his sleeve, a dagger slipped out.

The janitor caught the dagger at once and was about to stab Jiang Chu.

But at that moment, a bottle of mineral water thrown from afar smashed viciously into the janitor's head. Filled with water, the bottle struck with force no weaker than a heavy punch.

The janitor immediately became dizzy. By the time he recovered, the two plainclothes officers had already pinned him hard to the floor, leaving him unable to move!

Officer Ma strode over with a cold sneer. "You fucking idiots! I knew you had something up your sleeves! Did you think I'd just let this guy come up here so easily?"

The restrained janitor said nothing, only glared at Officer Ma.

Officer Ma snorted and directly handcuffed the man behind his back. He called over another plainclothes officer, and the two guarded the janitor together.

"You, take him over there... Let him go in by himself," Officer Ma ordered.

Jiang Chu gave the foul-mouthed officer a grateful look, lowered his head, and silently walked to the end of the corridor.

Officer Ma looked at the janitor and lit a cigarette.

"Officer Ma, this is a hospital..."

Officer Ma paused, then irritably crushed out the cigarette before saying, "You're dead meat! Scum! You'd better cooperate with us!"

The janitor suddenly smiled strangely. "Officer, you're very clever. You knew we had a backup plan."

Officer Ma sneered. "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice!"

"But what if we had two backup plans?" the janitor said.

Officer Ma froze. A sense of foreboding suddenly rose within him. Meanwhile, the surroundings went dark as every light in the corridor went out in that instant!

Officer Ma reacted quickly and reached for the janitor, but in this instant, someone drove a hard knee into his stomach. Then his companion slammed into him, and both men fell to the floor.

The blackout was brief, and the power returned within seconds. But the janitor had vanished from both ends of the corridor, and no one knew Where he had gone!

"There's a third one! ****!!!" Officer Ma cursed as he scrambled up and chased toward the place Jiang Chu had gone.

At the corner at the end of the corridor, all he saw was his subordinate lying on the floor. The man clutched his abdomen, bleeding heavily. Jiang Chu, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Officer Ma looked back and forth, his face full of bewilderment and humiliation.

Where had Jiang Chu gone?

Jiang Chu Didn't know Where he had gone either. An unprecedented terror enveloped him—this was clearly the hospital rooftop!

But he clearly remembered being in the corridor on the seventh floor!

Just as he was about to enter his son's ward, the surroundings suddenly went dark, and he heard the plainclothes officer behind him let out a muffled groan.

At that moment, Jiang Chu suddenly understood that Mr. Sun truly would not let go of him so easily.

Perhaps he would die the very next second.

But his son was right in front of him, separated by only a single door, yet he could not see him no matter what. Powerful grief, indignation, and despair instantly drove Jiang Chu's emotions to their peak.

Then the scene before him suddenly brightened, and he had appeared on the hospital rooftop.

Yet that was not the strangest part. For instance, standing in front of Jiang Chu was a bizarre person... someone wearing a Clown Mask and holding a Black Cane, as though he had been waiting here for Jiang Chu for a very long time... a strange person.

"You... Who are you? Did Mr. Sun send you too?" Jiang Chu stared at the other party in utter terror.

Behind the mask, Luo Qiu seemed remarkably Pingjing. "Doctor Jiang, shouldn't you have known Who I am long ago?"

Jiang Chu froze.

Luo Qiu flicked his cane. From within the doctor's coat wrapped around Jiang Chu's hands, a black card slipped out and flew directly into Luo Qiu's palm.

Jiang Chu was stunned. "The club... trading... You came to find me?"

Luo Qiu shook his head. "I did not come to find you. You wished to see me. This Black Card sensed the most urgent desire In Your Heart and brought you before me."

"You... you can help me?" Jiang Chu trembled a little.

In only a few seconds, he had been transported to the rooftop. This sudden change, the strange man who appeared in a Clown Mask, and the Black Card that had flown out by itself...

Unbelievable things were happening to him.

"Really... can anything be bought?" Jiang Chu swallowed.

Luo Qiu said calmly, "Yes, provided you can pay the value of what you need."

Jiang Chu hesitated. "If I say I want my son to be safe, can you do that?"

Luo Qiu said, "Yes."

After a moment of silence, Jiang Chu asked, "What... do I need to pay?"

Luo Qiu said, "Doctor Jiang, what do you think you still have to offer... Hmm, perhaps I should give you a hint. First, if the Black Card had not brought you here, you would theoretically already be dead. Of course, you are an important customer of ours, and protecting customers is also something we must do, so we will not charge you for that."

Seeing the unease on Jiang Chu's face, Luo Qiu said directly, "But you must understand, Doctor Jiang, you were someone who was originally going to die. After death, you would have nothing."

"Say no more." Jiang Chu suddenly took a deep breath. "You are demons... When that voice appeared, I knew it. You are demons. The most valuable thing I have is my soul, isn't it?"

"For most people, the soul is indeed the most valuable thing," Luo Qiu said without avoiding the subject.

Jiang Chu gave a bitter laugh. "Only demons like you would take an interest in a soul as thoroughly filthy as mine... Hahaha!"

He dropped painfully to his knees, his eyes empty. Looking at his trembling, handcuffed hands, he rasped, "I knew it... I knew from the beginning... When I cut open the first person's body with a scalpel, I knew I would not come to a good end... Elderly people? Men? Women? Vagrants? Even orphans... One after another, I could never forget the way they looked at me."

He covered his face and wept. "I had no choice!"

"They said they could provide matching bone marrow for me!"

"I couldn't let my son die. He wasn't even eleven yet! His life had not yet begun!"

"Even if these hands became stained with blood, I would still use them to carve out a new life for him! Even if I had to go to hell, I would dare!"

"Mr. Sun lied to me... They lied to me!!!"

"Retribution! Retribution!! This is my retribution, hahaha!!!!"

"My soul, take it if you want it! I Don't know how many people I've harmed, and I know that even death cannot repay it all! But in the end, I still hope the people who should live can live."

Luo Qiu said, "State the item you require."

Jiang Chu said dejectedly, "I want my son... no, I want my son and his Mother to be safe. I don't want them to suffer persecution. I even hope you can bring Mr. Sun and his people to justice."

After a moment of silence, Luo Qiu said, "I'm sorry, your soul is not worth that much. The former, or the latter?"

Jiang Chu smiled bitterly. "Is that so? This filthy soul truly isn't worth much... Fine, then the former. As long as they are safe, that is enough for me."

Even without making a trade, his reputation would inevitably be ruined. Even if he were arrested, Mr. Sun and his people would not spare him, given how ruthless they were. Those people had extensive influence; even in prison, they would probably have plenty of ways to get to him. And his son was about to fail to hold on any longer.

His ex-wife would be consumed by grief over their son's death.

The worst possible outcome.

Then... if he could still exchange something for anything at all, there was nothing left to hesitate over.

He looked at the Clown. "One last thing. Can I see my child one more time?"

Luo Qiu nodded.

With a wave of the Black Cane, the two had moved directly from the rooftop into a hospital ward. Luo Qiu lightly tapped Jiang Chu's ex-wife on the shoulder with his cane. Seeing Jiang Chu grow tense, he said, "Doctor Jiang, you would not want your final farewell to be disturbed, would you?"

Jiang Chu nodded. He said nothing, merely walked to the bedside, took his son's hand, and silently pressed it against his cheek.

He simply stared at him blankly.

Luo Qiu showed no intention of urging him and waited silently with great patience.

Until Jiang Chu suddenly stood up, his eyes red. He gently kissed his son's forehead and murmured, "You will have a wonderful life, understand? Dad was useless. Dad did many wrong things. I'm sorry."

He took a deep breath and looked at Luo Qiu, his expression instead becoming tranquil. "Can I take one last walk through this hospital?"

"Yes."

Luo Qiu nodded.

Jiang Chu walked through the hospital corridors. Strangely, no matter Who passed by him, none of them seemed able to see him.

Even though he walked right past them.

He knew this was the power of a "demon," so he no longer paid it any mind.

He passed the emergency room. "Back then, I hadn't graduated yet. I was assigned here as an intern. The old Dean took a liking to me and let me work here directly after graduation. I even wrote that calligraphy hanging on the wall... After all these years, they still haven't taken it down."

Jiang Chu smiled as he looked at this and that, talking about this and that, as though he did not want Luo Qiu, who was accompanying him through the final stretch of his life, to be too bored.

Luo Qiu suddenly asked, "Doctor Jiang, if you could live your life again, would you still choose to help Mr. Sun?"

Jiang Chu stopped. After thinking for a while, he said, "I would! But this time, I would check whether the bone marrow was actually a match instead of blindly believing them."

Luo Qiu merely nodded, then suddenly said, "Time is up."

Jiang Chu nodded as well and took a deep breath. There was nothing left for him to worry about.

Suddenly.

A nurse suddenly rushed in, crying urgently, "Is Doctor Chen here? Doctor Chen?"

"What happened?"

"Just now, because of the power outage, Doctor Huang was operating. It seems he was startled and made a mistake! Although the power was restored immediately, Doctor Huang saw his mistake and apparently became too nervous, fainting for the moment... The Dean said the surgery cannot stop. Doctor Chen?"

"Me? I... I'm only an intern... I..."

"There's no time! The patient's family has agreed too!"

"But... Where is Doctor Jiang?"

"We can't find him! Hurry! Hurry! It's an emergency!"

The nurse hastily dragged a young doctor into the room and rushed away flustered.

Watching it all happen before him, Jiang Chu smiled bitterly. "Because of me... have I harmed another person?"

"That surgery was originally supposed to be yours."

Jiang Chu stared blankly at Luo Qiu. An unprecedented impulse made him blurt out, "Can you give me another five hours... no, four hours?"

"Dean... I really can't do this."

The young Doctor Chen stood helplessly beside her old Dean, while the old Dean could only console him. "Be bold and do it. Otherwise, the patient has only one path left—death. The situation is very dangerous. I have no choice either..."

So you're making me, a half-trained amateur, take over? The young doctor's heart was filled with anger—aside from Jiang Chu, who couldn't be found, the hospital could surely have pulled in at least one or two others!

"Let me do it."

A steady voice suddenly sounded. Walking toward them was Jiang Chu, dressed in a spotless white coat. His face was pale, but his eyes held more life than the old Dean had seen in them in many years.

"Jiang Chu, you... weren't you..." The old Dean seemed to know something and stared at Jiang Chu's arrival in shock.

Jiang Chu walked to the Dean and said softly, "Teacher... I am only a doctor now. Is that okay?"

The patient's family had originally been unwilling to let such a young doctor take over. But the hospital's arrangements left them helpless. The patient's grandfather had nearly fallen out with his old friend upon seeing him bring in a young doctor.

Now that he saw Jiang Chu, the original lead surgeon, he said without further hesitation, "Doctor Jiang, I'm very sorry about your child! But if you can save my granddaughter..."

Jiang Chu waved her hand. "I'm only here to save someone. I don't want to say too much. If possible, please let me in."

Although he asked to be allowed inside, Jiang Chu had already headed straight for the operating room. The nurses in surgical gowns hurriedly made way, and one quickly said, "Doctor Jiang, I'll disinfect you first!"

Inside the operating room.

Everything felt so familiar.

Jiang Chu held the scalpel without the slightest tremble, his fingers even seeming strong and powerful. He had never felt so alert or focused.

He could not remember how long it had been since he had performed surgery with this kind of concentration.

He thought of nothing, hoping only that every cut would land in the most precise place.

The scalpel seemed to become a sharp sword, Cutting Off the ropes that should have dragged this little life into death.

One Root after another, he had already forgotten the passage of time.

The operating room was silent.

Until a sudden clink rang out—the sound of the metal instrument Jiang Chu placed on the tray striking against it.

Jiang Chu sighed in relief. "Stop the bleeding... suture the wound."

"Doctor Jiang! You are... incredible! Incredible!! Doctor Jiang? Doctor Jiang?"

The moment Jiang Chu lifted his mask, he slowly collapsed to the floor. A faint smile rested on his face, and he looked peaceful and fulfilled.

"Is this Jiang Chu's soul? It's so beautiful. I thought it could never reach such purity."

Inside the club, You Ye held up a Crystal Box.

Within it was a ball of pink light, pure and without the slightest impurity.

Luo Qiu looked at the phone retrieved from Jiang Chu, at the photos inside it, and said softly, "Perhaps because he found redemption in the end."

"It seems we profited this time, and by quite a lot," You Ye said with a smile.

Luo Qiu suddenly said, "That's right... It was originally not enough, but now it is enough instead. Unfortunately, that was not explained before the trade."

Luo Qiu shook his head. "Perhaps this is the unpredictability of fate."

As he spoke, he dialed one of the numbers on the phone, only to immediately hear these words.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed does not exist."

Luo Qi could only mutter, "That was fast."

Shaking his head, Luo Qi rose to his feet and held the Crystal Box in his hands.

You Ye asked, "Master, are you planning to make the sacrifice?"

"Stored."

PS1: This chapter is five thousand words... Let's count it as two chapters for today.

PS2: In theory, there'll be an update after midnight tonight. The new-book period seems to be ending soon, but I still haven't shown my face and flaunted myself in the top twelve of the new-book rankings. Who'll give me another boost?

PS3: So what I actually want is recommendations and bookmarks.