Do not leave a good deed undone because it is small

Even after being killed, he could set aside the grudge and seek out the city lord. Something so contrary to human nature could only mean he was a player.

The question was whether the city lord had reached that conclusion through experimentation or had known all along.

Lin Bai sank into thought. To save his dear big brother, he had racked his brains for ways to approach the city lord. Now, he could no longer make sense of the city lord's intentions.

After all, if the lord of a city wanted to strike at him from the shadows, he had plenty of ways to do it. There was no need to be this obvious.

"Shopkeeper Lin, please go to the City Lord's Residence yourself. My injuries are too severe. I'm afraid I can't accompany you." Zhou Jiang coughed up a mouthful of blood and sat motionless on the ground, clutching his lower abdomen. "Don't worry. The city lord won't harm you."

He's already trying to fucking kill me, and you're saying he won't harm me?

Lin Bai raised an eyebrow, unable to resist grumbling inwardly. As expected of a city lord—black-hearted and thick-skinned. He could give me a run for my money.

Looking up at the night sky, Lin Bai walked toward Zhou Jiang. "Come on, Lord Zhou. I'll help you back to the City Lord's Residence to get treated..."

Zhou Jiang's expression sharpened. "You know me?"

"What kind of thing is that to say?" Lin Bai shot him a glare. "Even if I didn't, I couldn't leave a badly injured man here and go to the City Lord's Residence alone!"

Zhou Jiang pressed him. "How did you know my surname was Zhou?"

"You're so handsome and dashing. What else could your surname be?" Lin Bai smiled. "Honestly, I could tell your surname was Zhou the moment I saw you."

At that perfunctory answer, Zhou Jiang's mouth twitched, and another trickle of blood seeped out.

"For a Shadow Guard of the City Lord's Residence, you're awfully frail. You couldn't even take one palm strike from me." Lin Bai crouched down and, under Zhou Jiang's astonished gaze, felt all over his body. Before long, he had fished out a whole pile of odds and ends: a dagger, a sleeve sword, a blowpipe, a purse, wound medicine...

Each time he took something out, Lin Bai tucked it into his own clothes. "Lord Zhou, don't look at me like that. You've already killed me once. I'm kindly saving you, so naturally I can't give you another chance to hurt me."

You've practically fucking crippled me! How the hell am I supposed to hurt you? And is stuffing all my things into your own clothes supposed to be kindness too?

Zhou Jiang roared silently, glaring furiously at Lin Bai, yet unable to utter a word. In silence, he supplied Lin Bai with wave after wave of negative emotions.

He feared that if he angered Lin Bai, the bastard would deliver another palm strike and kill him outright.

Ordinarily, if he died, then he died. He had long since prepared himself for that.

But Lin Bai had called out his surname the moment he opened his mouth. That was enough to prove someone had infiltrated the City Lord's Residence. He had to bring back such important intelligence.

So he could not die.

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Lin." Zhou Jiang painstakingly forced a smile onto his icy face. "You truly are a good man."

If you weren't supplying all those negative emotions while calling me a good man, I might believe you.

Lin Bai reached out and squeezed his topknot. "You're welcome. Saving one life is worth more than building a seven-story pagoda. Ever since I was little, my father told me not to commit an evil deed because it was small, or leave a good deed undone because it was small. And if a good man wants to live a long life, the most important thing is caution..." As he spoke, he pinched Zhou Jiang's cheeks. "Come on, open up. Let me see whether you have any poisoned needles in your mouth. Ah..."

You're more practiced at this than bandits who raid homes and rob people. All that's missing is spreading my ass cheeks to have a look.

Who the hell would believe you're a good man? A ghost?

All right!

The ghost really is in cahoots with him.

As Lin Bai handled him, Zhou Jiang felt so humiliated that he wanted to kill himself. He cursed Lin Bai inwardly, supplying him with a steady stream of negative emotion points.

"You don't even keep a poison pill in your mouth. Lord Zhou, you're not a very professional Shadow Guard!" Finding nothing in Zhou Jiang's mouth, Lin Bai looked disappointed.

"Shopkeeper Lin, I'm a Shadow Guard, not a death warrior." Zhou Jiang finally could not hold back any longer, explaining as he spat blood.

"You're injured this badly, and you're still arguing over empty titles. What's the point?" Lin Bai looked at Zhou Jiang pityingly and reached out to lift him up. "Stop talking. Let's go to the City Lord's Residence."

A mouthful of blood surged into Zhou Jiang's throat, and his injuries grew even worse. Leaning against Lin Bai's shoulder, he felt all his grief clogging his throat. If I fucking die, it won't be because you beat me to death. It'll definitely be because you infuriated me to death!

Supporting Zhou Jiang, Lin Bai sighed. "Lord Zhou, if only I knew medicine. Then I wouldn't have to let you suffer like this."

Before he had even finished speaking.

A notification sounded in Lin Bai's mind:

[A healer has a benevolent heart. An act of saving a life has been detected. Loading the Peerless Divine Doctor System.]

Peerless Divine Doctor System:

The emperor above the ninefold heavens is exalted throughout the realm; the five ranks of nobles command reverence beyond their gates. Yet how can they compare with a wildly drunken commoner, who refuses to let heaven and earth hold his life?

Medicine serves to save the world; its practice prizes mastery.

A physician without benevolence cannot be entrusted with a life; without intelligence and understanding, he cannot be given responsibility; without integrity and purity, he cannot be trusted.

Host, please maintain a kind and charitable heart. You will surely become a divine doctor of your age, healing heaven and earth above and all living beings below.

[Initial quest: Treat one patient; reward: Constitution +1]

Feeling the string of notifications in his mind, Lin Bai was a little dazed. Are you kidding me? Isn't this system activation far too casual?

Someone asks to become my disciple, and you give me a Know-It-All Teacher System.

I want to save someone, and you give me a Peerless Divine Doctor System...

Then if I want to court death...

Pah!

Lin Bai stopped that train of thought just in time. Who knew how many systems lurked in his mind? If he really brought out a courting death system, he would be done for.

Still.

A Divine Doctor System that rewards me with constitution instead of medical skills? What the hell? Just because my body gets healthier doesn't mean the patient's body will!

How am I supposed to treat patients and save lives like this?

Is it hanging up a sheep's head while selling dog meat, just like the God of Cooking System?

Still.

Having already experienced the benefits of spirit, Lin Bai did look forward to this constitution reward. Inner force had already greatly increased his strength. If he kept adding constitution to the very end, perhaps he would become Wolverine!

Besides, the God of Cooking System had given him money first, and knife skills only afterward.

The Divine Doctor System would most likely reward him with medical skills later, too.

Earlier, he had regretted how awkward the Seven Wounds Hand rewarded by the Flawed Creation System was to use. Now a medical system had been delivered to him, perfectly filling that gap.

This system's quests were worth grinding...

After dawdling for a long while, Lin Bai arrived at the City Lord's Residence when it was nearly midnight.

Supporting the now-unconscious Zhou Jiang, Lin Bai used his inner force to force a fine sheen of sweat onto his forehead. Panting, he said to the guards on duty, "Sorry for the trouble, but please go in and announce that Lin Bai of the Chef God Restaurant requests an audience. Also, please tell the city lord that Lord Zhou of the Shadow Guard is badly injured, and ask him to prepare some healing pills. Sorry to trouble you."

The guard glanced at the exhausted-looking Lin Bai, dared not delay, and darted inside.

The other guard stepped forward to take Zhou Jiang from Lin Bai, but Lin Bai refused. "Let me do it. In Lord Zhou's current condition, he shouldn't be moved again."

[Admiration from Hu Tong; +1 +1]

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Lin." The guard gave Lin Bai a long look and withdrew his hands, taking the initiative to guard his side and express his goodwill through action.

A short while later.

The guard responsible for announcing him came running back. "Shopkeeper Lin, the city lord invites you in. Please follow me."

As he spoke, he too tried to help take Zhou Jiang from Lin Bai, but the guard beside them stopped him. "Let Shopkeeper Lin support him. Changing hands will worsen his injuries."

Lin Bai managed a strained smile. "It's fine. I'm not tired. Lord Zhou was injured in the line of duty. It's my honor to bring him back. No amount of exhaustion would deter me."

And so.

Unsurprisingly, Lin Bai harvested another wave of positive emotions.