After meeting those cold, golden, slit-pupil eyes for just a moment, Yao Bing's mental defenses collapsed completely. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and threw himself at the door, scrambling out on his hands and knees.
Strangely, the Yao Family bodyguards waiting outside weren't surprised at all. Instead, they stopped their young master as he wailed and howled. Their expressions were so odd that it was hard to say exactly what was strange about them.
One of the bodyguards even glanced into the Consultation room. Apart from the equipment with its electrode pads torn loose and hanging askew, there was only Li Bai. There was no giant snake like the one their young master had described.
Great Demon Li shrugged innocently. There was only a flood dragon in the room, not a snake. He couldn't let them falsely accuse him like this. Did having money mean you could bully people?
"Such a huge green snake! It was so thick, so big, right there in the room! Hurry, hurry and kill it! Call in the army! Use cannons! Blow it up with missiles!"
Still shaken, Yao Bing gesticulated frantically at his bodyguards and the police.
He wanted to run, but they held him fast. All he could do was cry and scream hysterically.
At the end of the corridor, the reporters who had been kept back furiously filmed with their phones and small DV cameras, afraid of missing such explosive news: a rich second-generation murderer pretending to be insane in a bid to escape justice.
Quite a few people had predicted this might happen, but none had expected him to actually dare try it!
The police all wore strange expressions. The Yao Family's young master was quite the actor. He was playing his role so convincingly that you'd think he really was mentally ill.
This was the middle of the city, with no woods or mountains within twenty li. Never mind whether there were any snakes around—how one could even get into Seventh People's Hospital was baffling. And with a body that thick, it probably couldn't even fit through the Consultation room door. Even the movie Anaconda wasn't this ridiculous.
For safety's sake, several police officers took brooms and mops and carefully searched every inch of Li Bai's Consultation room. They didn't find a giant green snake, much less one as thick as Yao Bing had claimed. They didn't even find an earthworm.
"Doctor Li, the suspect just said there was a giant snake in the room. Did you see one?"
Cadre Liu from the Procuratorate routinely questioned Li Bai, who had just been in the room with Yao Bing. He knew it was absurd, but the incident still needed to be addressed in the report.
"How could there be a snake?"
If Cadre Liu had asked whether there was a flood dragon, Li Bai would certainly have come clean to the authorities.
"That kid sure knows how to put on an act."
Cadre Liu gave a snort. As expected, it was all a ploy.
The Yao Family relied on the public service work they'd done and their connections with various government departments to make trouble for the justice system. Many leaders were fed up with having to deal with all the favors and strings attached from every direction.
Just like this time, they were plainly trying to exploit a loophole in the law.
"Shall we continue?"
Li Bai blinked.
Cadre Liu glanced at Yao Bing, who was still "acting," then nodded to Li Bai.
In the second round, Li Bai hadn't even made a move before his opponent was already down.
"Continue! Get a few people to put him back in there."
Yao Bing wanted no part of it. There was a huge, thick snake in that room. He'd rather scrub himself clean and spend the rest of his life in prison than end up inside a snake's belly.
"Young master, there's no snake in there. We've all checked. There really isn't one."
The Yao Family bodyguards tried to soothe their young master as they forced him back into the Consultation room. They even helped the police handcuff him to a chair.
"No! I want to get out! Help!"
The Yao Family's young master wailed in despair, but no one paid him any attention.
"Doctor Li, sorry for the trouble!"
The Yao Family Head Bodyguard even nodded to Li Bai before closing the door again.
The lock clicked shut with a soft sound, and Yao Bing broke down on the spot. Before, he could blame it on being scared by the Azure Flood Dragon's true form. Now he was terrifying himself.
Having been scared once already, the Demoness not showing herself was even more terrifying than if she had. No one knew when she might suddenly appear and scare him to death—or swallow him whole.
Li Bai twitched his nose. He smelled something foul. Looking at Yao Bing, he saw drops of water falling from the chair. The guy had wet himself.
Well, there was no choice. Time to use his ultimate trick.
He took a fine silver chain from the drawer. A silver ring hung from one end. He swung it before Yao Bing's eyes, and his voice seemed to take on a magical quality, drawing the listener's mind in despite himself.
This little prop was merely a point of entry, using the eyes to open the mind's defenses. A true master of hypnosis could slip into the depths of a subject's mind with nothing more than a snap of the fingers, a syllable, or even a glance.
"You're at home, lying in bed, dreaming..."
Before he'd finished three sentences, Yao Bing's eyes had already begun to glaze over.
Li Bai hadn't learned this trick from any of the instructors at school. He'd picked it up when he sat in on the Sleep Disorders Department, learning directly from Dean Zhou.
Hypnosis worked wonders for chronic insomnia. All it took was guiding a patient into two hours of deep sleep to help their exhausted body fully relax. Their condition would improve significantly, sometimes even getting better altogether.
Half an hour later, Yao Bing emerged from the room, calm again but reeking of urine. He no longer shouted and screamed like a madman. He was quietly led away by the police as if nothing had happened.
The rich second-generation murder case had caused quite a stir. No matter how wealthy the Yao Family was, there was no way they could make it all disappear without a trace.
If the appraisal from Seventh People's Hospital contradicted the forensic assessment from the Public Security Bureau, a fourth-party appraisal and a joint expert assessment might have to be initiated, until they had a fair result that everyone would accept.
The process and result didn't really matter. What mattered was silencing every voice of doubt.
Yao Bing didn't know whether he'd been ill before entering the room.
But after walking out that door, in Li Bai's professional opinion, he was definitely no longer normal.
Even a powerful cultivator in the True Realm of the Dao would suffer if Qingyao Demoness caught him with an unprepared glance. The Demon Race's innate divine ability, Spiritual Eye Illusion, was no joke.
Even an ordinary person couldn't withstand a casual glance.
Li Bai didn't care at all about what had happened to poor Yao Bing. He'd brought it on himself. Justice never missed its mark; it had simply borrowed the Demoness's hand.
In the third round, the Yao Family's young master was knocked out with a straight-up GG. Li Bai, who hadn't moved from his spot, wore a baffled look. Who else was there?
Not a single worthy opponent!—
"Xiao Li, how did the assessment turn out?"
With the lockdown in the corridor lifted, Chen Sheng from the consultation room next door slipped into Li Bai's room.
Li Bai was tidying up his diagnostic equipment. Chen Sheng seemed a little shifty, so Li Bai decided to keep his guard up and pretended to tease him. "Guess."
The chair nearby reeked of urine. No one would be able to sit on it again for a while.
"..."
Chen Sheng hadn't expected that. He stared blankly for a moment, then quickly came to his senses. The corner of his mouth twitched despite himself. It was obvious Li Bai was messing with him.
Unwilling to give up, Chen Sheng forced a smile and said, "You're quite the jokester. If someone's sick, they're sick; if they're not, they're not. Just tell me. It won't kill you."
"How do you know it won't kill me?"
Li Bai was now sure Chen Sheng had ulterior motives.
They'd already been quietly competing with each other. Now that the attending physician position was up for grabs, there was even less reason to waste time joking around. Why would Chen Sheng be so patient with him?
Just as he'd suspected, the guy was after something.
"How could that be?"
Chen Sheng acted surprised. Normally, he would have turned and left long ago, but now he had to force himself to be patient, even though he knew Li Bai might be deliberately messing with him.
"The more secrets rich people have, the faster you die if you learn them."
Li Bai deliberately changed the subject.
From what he knew of Chen Sheng, the man wasn't particularly cunning. If they were going to beat around the bush, they might as well fish for information from each other and see who slipped up first.
In other words, if Chen Sheng really were shrewd, he wouldn't have confronted him over something this trivial.
Chen Sheng was furious. Li Bai really was playing him. He dropped the pretense and asked bluntly, "How much did you get in bribes?"
Li Bai spread his hands and shrugged. "How could I have taken a bribe?"
The other man had finally shown his hand.
Chen Sheng spoke casually, though his words were half-serious and half-joking. "I was the one who recommended you for this job. If there's anything in it for you, don't keep it all to yourself."
"Senior Chen, listen to yourself. This is a hot potato. If there were any benefits to be had, how would it have fallen to me?"
Li Bai found Chen Sheng's greed repulsive. His words dripped with scorn: run from trouble, grab whatever benefits came along, and still have the nerve to show his face?
Chen Sheng had started work only six months before Li Bai, yet he was always putting on airs as though he were a veteran.
Li Bai's calling him "Senior Chen" made Chen Sheng's face turn red despite himself. What kind of senior was he? Even the nurses outside had probably been working longer than him.
Although he'd been saddled with the blame for no reason, his whole afternoon's work had been handling the Yao Family's young master's psychological assessment. Now that it was done, he could leave early. Li Bai had no interest in dealing with this annoying guy, so he called over a cleaner to take the urine-soaked chair away for washing.
Seeing that Li Bai had stopped paying him any attention and was packing up to leave on his own, Chen Sheng grew furious with embarrassment. He glared at Li Bai's retreating figure and muttered darkly, "Doctor Li, be careful when you leave work over the next few days. Those online mobs might come looking for you."
When all was said and done, Chen Sheng was simply not a very cunning person. Li Bai had never taken him seriously.
"Thanks for the concern!"
Without looking back, Li Bai casually waved his hand and soon disappeared around the stairwell.
Chen Sheng was startled. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, as though someone had caught him red-handed.
They were more than ten steps apart, and he'd lowered his voice. How had Li Bai still heard him? Did he have superhuman hearing?
Chen Sheng stood frozen for a moment, his face turning from pale to red and back again. Then, somewhat flustered and angry, he returned to his own Consultation room and slammed the door shut.
Before long, a new rumor spread online: a doctor surnamed Li at Seventh People's Hospital had accepted bribes and issued a diagnosis confirming that Yao Bing, the rich second-generation murderer, was mentally ill.
At last, an online storm erupted, unstoppable.
Before you continue