Come, Call Me Grandpa

Night.

A bar.

A brown-haired beauty with a pure face and a slender figure, a small waist bag over her shoulder, scanned the room before greeting Brian, who was sitting in a booth, with some uncertainty. "Hi, Brian. Long time no see."

Brian got up to welcome her. After exchanging a cheek kiss with her, he gestured for her to sit. "Jenny, long time no see. How have you been?"

Jenny lightly smoothed her long hair, gratitude showing on her face. "Pretty good. Thanks to the A-level rating you gave me back then. Otherwise, I never could have paid off my family's gambling debts so quickly. By now, I'd probably have ended up walking the streets. I'm really grateful for your help."

Brian shook his head. "No need for that. I also received the payment I deserved."

Jenny was one of the jobs he had taken early on.

She had been a young nurse at a hospital, pretty enough that she'd once had a very good chance of landing an official doctor and living a comfortable middle-class life.

Unfortunately, Jenny's father was a gambling addict.

Some unpleasant things had happened in between.

With no way out, Jenny had ultimately found Brian under pressure from a gang and become a used car for part-time work.

As for what happened afterward.

Brian had no idea.

He had started working part-time back in college.

The vehicles he had assessed numbered at least one or two thousand, if not three thousand.

It was impossible to keep track of every single one.

If he had not made detailed records for every high-quality client and treated them as his own unique network of resources...

He might not even have remembered Jenny.

Today, Brian had come because he needed her help.

He wasted no words and got straight to the point. "Jenny, I came to you today because there's something I'd like your help with."

Confusion appeared in Jenny's eyes. "Sorry, but I already have my own family. I don't do that line of work anymore."

"No, no, no."

Brian quickly shook his head.

"I don't do vehicle assessments anymore.

"In fact, I just joined a new department, one that specializes in autopsies.

"But you know how it is.

"I was always busy making money before, so my professional skills are a bit lacking.

"That's why I wanted to ask for your help.

"I'd like to go to the hospital morgue and gain a bit more experience."

Hearing that it was not about that sort of thing, Jenny breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as it wasn't about that!

Her current husband was a department director at the hospital. He had a high income and no small amount of authority, which made life at the hospital very comfortable for her as well.

If she had not been worried that Brian might use that matter to threaten her...

She actually would not have wanted to come today at all.

Jenny probed, "You're sure you just want to take a look in the morgue?"

"Yes." Brian nodded firmly. "I have a very good reputation in the industry. You don't need to worry about anything else. In return, if something comes up in the future, you can come to me for help."

As he spoke.

Brian lifted open his suit jacket, revealing the holster and police badge inside.

If Jenny still refused.

He could only say that line: Jenny, you wouldn't want...

Seeing the police badge on Brian's chest.

Jenny agreed right away.

With her husband's authority at the hospital...

This small matter was not difficult.

Two hours later.

Brian stuffed a stack of twenty-dollar bills into the old guard's hand, put on a white coat, and walked into the chilly morgue.

"What a place to bring peace to the heart."

Back in a familiar environment.

Brian comfortably inhaled a breath of cold air, picked up the hospital death registry, and began opening blind boxes.

The hospital was exactly the kind of place where Brian believed the drop rate for obsessions would be higher.

The reason was simple.

When did people experience the greatest emotional turmoil?

One was the resentment that came after being frightened and tormented.

The other was the fear, unwillingness, and regret that built up day by day after learning death was near and counting down the days until the Grim Reaper arrived.

The intensive care ward was the best breeding nest.

The bodies of those terminal patients were Brian's target.

The hospital Jenny worked at was not small.

According to the death registry, five or six terminal patients died here every day.

These people were also Brian's main targets.

When opening blind boxes, naturally, you started with the freshest ones.

One body, two bodies.

After several corpses, just as Brian thought he would come up empty-handed today, the body of the last child let him see hope again.

This was an orphaned child with congenital heart disease.

He had died two hours ago.

The body was still very fresh.

The instant the freezer drawer was pulled open, a wisp of red light immediately entered Brian's eyes.

He hurriedly swept his palm over the corpse and crushed the little red ball that represented the obsession.

A message flooded into his mind: I really want to go to the amusement park one more time.

Brian fell silent for a moment, pushed the freezer drawer back in, and left the morgue.

The next day.

After returning from the amusement park, Brian took out an iron hammer and, without the slightest hesitation, smashed it viciously into his own left pinky!

There was a muffled thud.

Brian sucked in a cold breath, his expression twisting.

All ten fingers were linked to the heart.

One hammer blow really fucking hurt!

After panting violently for several seconds, Brian finally recovered.

He looked at his purplish-blue, already numb pinky, and his heart stirred.

The next moment, a warm current surged beneath the skin of his pinky.

After about the time of a single breath, his pinky still looked purplish-blue.

But in reality, the damage to the flesh and bone under the skin had already been repaired.

Brian tried again, moving the pinky that looked so hideously injured.

It was a little numb.

But it no longer affected movement!

This strengthening repair

had consumed about a quarter of the little boy's gifted energy.

Good!

A savage grin appeared on Brian's face.

That agent with the little glasses!

Trying to threaten me, huh!

Trying to beat the grass and scare the snake, huh!

Then I'll show you exactly what kind of snake I am!

That night.

Brian came to the hospital morgue again.

The little boy's obsession was very simple, and the feedback was also very small.

Brian wasn't sure whether he could fully repair his leg after breaking it.

If his leg broke, and the repair ended up incomplete, that would be hilarious.

To be safe, and also to store up more gift energy, Brian decided that after completing one more obsession, he would send that A-Team, Unit One agent named Karen to go meet his colleague!

He didn't know if it was good luck, or if the drop rate from the corpses of critically ill patients in the hospital really was that high, but this time, Brian actually managed to collect another obsession from an old man's corpse: What a pity, I won't be able to hear my granddaughter call me Grandpa.

It was another very simple, sincere obsession.

Brian rubbed his head.

He felt like he had gone into the wrong line of work.

The obsessions of murder victims had a high drop rate too, but they were always either "kill this one" or "wipe out that one."

But look at this place.

The last one had been to go have fun at an amusement park.

This one was just to hear a granddaughter call him Grandpa.

Safe and simple.

Maybe he should change careers and become a night watcher in a morgue?

With thoughts of changing careers in mind, Brian followed the address registered at the hospital

and snuck over to the old man's home that very night.

He deftly avoided the house's surveillance, slipped in through a window, silently drugged the man and woman who owned the house, then stretched his evil hands toward the little baby sleeping soundly in the cradle...

If you don't work hard, how are you going to learn to crawl, learn to babble?

At your age!

How can you sleep?

Sleep my ass!

Get up and party!

Looking at the little baby who had been startled awake and was staring at him dumbly, Brian said in a soft, gentle voice, "Come on, say Grandpa."

The little baby: "Waaah, waaah, waaah!"

After one night, Brian, who had no idea how many times he had told the little baby to say "Grandpa" before finally completing the old man's obsession, licked his dry lips, left behind the exhausted infant sleeping deeply and snoring, and returned to his apartment in satisfaction.

Next, while he still had time, he was going to send Karen to go meet that colleague of his who had already become one with nature!

To be honest, Brian was also very curious.

Why would a kind, friendly good person like him draw the attention of Karen, and of that white detective from before?

What exactly was the other party's goal?

Two chapters, five thousand words, delivered.

Good night.