Dragon God Clinic

Two days later, cafeteria.

Chu Hengkong was staring at a copy of the Tuanli Daily. The entertainment section's front-page photo was a close-up of someone leaping into the sky. Holding the newspaper, Ji Huaishu read in a lively, dramatic cadence, "Miraculous Detective Flea has mastered his divine art. Witnesses claim he can now walk on his back!"

Chu Hengkong pressed a hand to his forehead. "You specifically kept a newspaper from a day ago..."

The team members eating around them tried their best not to laugh. Jie An behind the counter caught the words with his sharp ears and immediately called out, "Yo, why isn't the great detective crawling today?"

"Looks like after two days of secluded cultivation, the great detective has finally learned to walk upright." Ji Huaishu grinned wickedly.

The team members could no longer hold it in and burst into laughter. Chu Hengkong pretended not to hear, waving a tentacle. "I wasn't cultivating. I was sleeping."

He had slept for two days and two nights straight. Even his disciplined biological clock had been unable to stop the exhausted slumber. The three days of Mutation Hand had been utterly draining. If the skill had fused into his flesh and blood, then the fatigue had been pressed into his heart. Without taking time to recuperate, he was afraid he would never fully recover.

"I'm taking a break for the next couple of days." Chu Hengkong took a bite of fried dough stick. "Any leads on the people who wanted to kill me?"

"The employer was slippery. They used single-line contact, and those two idiots didn't even know who they were working for." Ji Huaishu shook her head. "But they must be very rich. There aren't many people like that in the city."

Chu Hengkong did not care much. Someone willing to spend money on murder would not give up easily. Since they could afford to hire assassins once, they could naturally find another chance to hire better ones. When the next batch of assassins came to serve themselves up, they would leave fresh clues behind. Right now, he was concerned with something more important.

"When you have time, introduce me to a reliable doctor." He twisted his neck. "I trained too hard before. I'm worried I might have hidden injuries."

"A doctor?" Ji Huaishu repeated, then seemed to understand. "I get what you mean. Perfect—I've got something good to broaden your horizons."

"A relic for treatment?" Chu Hengkong guessed.

"Is there anything in your head besides relics?" Ji Huaishu bared her teeth. "Finish eating and get moving!"

The location of this "good thing" was not far from haunted Gushui Street. It was on Hidden Spring Street, where Chu Hengkong had been ambushed the day before yesterday. The street lay behind a residential district. Most of its shops had gone bankrupt and shut down, while its high-rises were all old, unoccupied buildings. Even in the Central District, it ranked among the quietest places.

Yet today, the rundown alley had welcomed a liveliness unseen in over a decade. Families lined up in neat rows, and the nagging of old people mixed with children's laughter made the place unusually noisy. Vendors who had sniffed out a business opportunity hurried over with carts to seize space, filling the air with the smell of low-quality oil. Chu Hengkong even spotted reporters from the newspaper on the rooftops, carrying "cameras" as large as small tables and snapping away at the new building.

The building that had brought about this change stood before the crowd: a square grand hall, its white-jade roof supported by crimson stone pillars. A majestic Dragon's Return sculpture coiled atop the roof, while a polished sign before the entrance read: Hidden Spring Street No. 26. Chu Hengkong remembered clearly that it had been a derelict building awaiting demolition before, but in merely two days, the steel bars and dust had vanished without a trace, and Dragon's Return's temple had risen from the ground. It was small, but imposing.

"It was built so quickly." Chu Hengkong was slightly surprised.

"There was no need to build it. It was already there." Youyou spoke proudly. Coiled atop Ji Huaishu's head, its eyes were brimming with the satisfaction of achievement.

To keep the crowd from becoming too excited, the two humans and one snake took a detour and entered the temple through a side door reserved for official personnel. Chu Hengkong had expected to see religious figures such as priests, pastors, or Daoist clerics, but the temple's interior was simple and clear at a glance. There were only a few staff members maintaining order and evenly spaced yellow magic arrays.

Ji Huaishu gave him an encouraging look. He stepped into the center of an array and asked in an odd tone, "...Do I need to pray?"

"Can praying cure illnesses where you come from?" Ji Huaishu looked intrigued.

"No."

"Same here. Don't move. It'll be done soon."

The yellow array flashed several times, and a gentle female voice rang in Chu Hengkong's mind. "Identification complete. Senior Detective Chu Hengkong, welcome to the local temple. You currently have sixty-two injuries, including hidden spinal damage, muscle strains, soft-tissue bruising, minor bone fractures, internal bleeding, and more. Please do not move and await divine treatment."

As the prompt sounded, yellow light from the array seeped into his body, warm as sunlight. Chu Hengkong felt his entire body lighten. His exhaustion quickly faded, and even his mental fatigue was soothed and calmed. He moved in delighted surprise. Injuries that did not show on the surface usually required long periods of recuperation, yet this array had completely healed the damage to his body in mere seconds.

"Treatment complete. You are welcome to return at any time."

Chu Hengkong stepped out of the array and exclaimed, "What's the principle behind this?"

"I never thought you'd be interested in the principle!" Youyou raised its head. "This involves the great Ancient Dragon totem faith system and this city's one-of-a-kind trend technique—"

"Please explain it in one sentence." Chu Hengkong hurriedly cut it off.

Youyou glared at him. Ji Huaishu said with a cheerful smile, "Simply put, it's Lord Dragon's Return's divine power."

"I've never seen Dragon's Return manifest before."

"Because the city's public security was too poor before." Ji Huaishu curled her lip. "When a city prospers, its gods grow strong; when a city declines, its gods grow weak. Whether in the Divine Tree City-State or Ancient Dragon City, gods and cities have always shared weal and woe.

"Before, people didn't trust the City Lord's Manor and didn't respect the rules, so naturally the temple couldn't wield its power. But recently, thanks to someone showing off his skills, everyone has gained confidence in the city. That's why Lord Dragon's Return can use divine power again."

This description was vastly different from what he had imagined. In the stories Chu Hengkong had read, so-called gods were either great beings beyond human comprehension or advanced lifeforms driven by spiritual energy such as faith and emotion. But Dragon's Return seemed more like a Land God from folklore, or the guardian deity of an ancient Greek city-state. It did not need worship or offerings, but sought the prosperity of its territory; when one prospered, all prospered, and when one suffered, all suffered. It was a different kind of symbiosis.

"A very friendly god," Chu Hengkong commented.

Youyou proudly flicked its tongue, its face raised as though it wanted to look up at the sky. Chu Hengkong slowly added, "But if Dragon's Return's combat strength is also tied to the state of the city, then it probably can't be counted on at the moment."

"What do you know? I... Lord Dragon's Return is very powerful too!" Youyou immediately shot him a glare. Unfazed, Ji Huaishu reached out to soothe it.

Chu Hengkong smiled and said he hoped so, then walked lightly out of the temple. Passing the roadside stalls, they bought cheap fried skewers and happily ate them away from the crowd. The sky beneath the water curtain remained gloomy, but hope had appeared on people's faces for once. Nearly every citizen in line had brought their family along. Elderly people needed treatment and recuperation, while children with weak resistance needed their illnesses cured quickly. No matter how society developed, reliable medical care was always what every family needed most.

If they could be cured, they could live. If they could live, there was hope.

"When I was little, there were many temples in Dragon's Return City," Ji Huaishu said. "But as the war dragged on, the temples gradually disappeared. Treating illnesses required expensive medicine, and people without money could only go down to the lower levels and try unclean herbs."

She turned to look at Chu Hengkong, her bright smile like sunlight.

"This is the first temple built in the city in ten years. It's all thanks to you!"

Oil still gleamed at the corners of her mouth, and when she smiled, her sharp little canine teeth showed. She clearly had a pretty face, yet cute was the only word that fit. Chu Hengkong's heart stirred slightly. I really did see something good. A smile like this did not belong in the workplace. There was plainly not a trace of calculation in her eyes. Her youthful vigor was like sunlight bursting forth, capable of dyeing even the darkest heart into dazzling gold.

"I just did my job." Chu Hengkong rubbed his nose. "I'll go patrol first. Call me if anything comes up."

"Hey~~ Why are you so shy today?" Ji Huaishu eagerly leaned closer. "Can't handle praise? Detective Chu, is your skin really that thin?"

"Miss Ji, instead of teasing me, you should go do some work..."

Ji Huaishu's eyes lit up. "Youyou, did you hear that? He called me Miss Ji! This guy really does have thin skin!"

Youyou turned its head away, thinking that every Dust Island human matured late. No matter how grown-up they looked, they still had moments of foolishness.

But that was not so bad. Only when the strength of the young grew greater could the city have hope.

The young people walked into the crowd and began the day's work. Detective Chu finally had a chance to show his skills. In a single day, he kicked apart three small gangs and caught a wanted criminal, then returned to headquarters in high spirits to rest. He had truly made a name for himself. Even villains with bounties on their heads had to take detours around him.

Only in the dead of night could those who moved in shadows walk unseen.

Central District, west side. An old house, a single candle, and six people of varying appearances around a wooden table.

They were criminals—murderous criminals with lives on their hands. The weapons they carried and the killing intent that occasionally slipped from their eyes were proof enough. Every one of them guarded against the others suddenly striking to kill. They feared their own heads would be carried off for a reward, so under normal circumstances, they would never gather together. But today, the criminals had broken the rule, because of the recent changes in the city, because they sensed they were about to lose the ability to survive.

The room was terrifyingly quiet. After an agonizing wait, a man with broad palms spoke first. His name had long been forgotten. People throughout the city called him Hundred Palms.

"Everyone who should be here is here, but why have those who shouldn't be here come too? The apothecary never takes jobs involving human lives. What are you joining the fun for?" Hundred Palms asked.

To his left, a sullen young man answered in a hoarse voice, "With the temple up, no one will come to me for treatment anymore. And no one will want to buy my poison."

"What about the gunman?"

"Avenging the brothers who got sent into the station because of me." The middle-aged man sneered.

Hundred Palms nodded. "And what grudge do you two brothers have to avenge?"

Two tall, thin men squatted beside the table. Their faces were almost identical, and they answered in unison, "Shrimp Head, worth one hundred and twenty thousand, got arrested today. Tomorrow, will it be the turn of us two, worth one hundred and thirty thousand?"

"Soon enough. By next week, it'll probably be my turn too, with my one hundred and seventy thousand." Hundred Palms gave a cold laugh and looked toward the seat of honor at the wooden table. "I don't want to hide like a rat. I ask the noble guest from the swamp to show us a path."

Until now, only the man seated at the head of the table had not spoken. Yet his words carried the greatest weight, because it was this untouchable man who had gathered the criminals together. He wore a white robe, his face hidden in shadow. His voice was blurred and slow, like bubbles rising from a mire.

"The evil dragon is borrowing momentum to show off. Then let's crush its arrogance."

He placed two iron cases on the wooden table. They were filled with deep-blue Flow Pearls, gleaming seductively in the candlelight.

"I'll give you one million Flow Pearls," the white-robed man said. "Five hundred thousand for Chu Hengkong's 'hand,' and five hundred thousand for his life."