Taking him by force

No heartbeat?

The moment the nurse said that, my head buzzed and my mind went blank!

Old Liu was dead!

I had only just reunited with Old Liu, and now something this terrible had happened. He had spared no effort to save someone. What happened to good deeds being rewarded?

I slumped weakly in the corner, staring in despair at the nurse who had delivered the terrible news.

In a hoarse voice, I asked:

"Is he completely dead? Can't you try resuscitating him again?"

The nurse shook her head.

I was lost in grief when, with a creak, the emergency room door opened.

Old Liu walked out leaning on his battered stick, one hand pressed to the back of his head, his whole head covered in blood.

The nurse at the door clapped a hand over her mouth, screamed in fright, and ran down the corridor.

My eyes widened as I stared blankly at Old Liu, who had already been pronounced dead, not knowing what to do.

Seeing me standing there in a daze, Old Liu called impatiently:

"What are you staring at? Come give me a hand!"

I swallowed and gritted my teeth. Just as I was about to go over and support him, two more nurses and a doctor ran out of the emergency room.

The doctor in the white coat came out, looked at Old Liu, and grumbled:

"Why won't you listen, old man? With a wound that big, your life will still be in danger if we don't stitch it up right away!"

Old Liu wasn't dead?

Confused, I walked over to support Old Liu and asked the doctor:

"Doctor, the nurse just came out and told me he had no heartbeat. Did you manage to bring him back?"

The doctor shook his head and said:

"When he first arrived, there really was no heartbeat at his left atrium. We only just figured out that his heart is on the right."

"On the right?"

The doctor's words astonished me. I had heard that a tiny number of people were born with their hearts on the right, but I had never imagined Old Liu was one of them.

The doctor continued:

"The wound on the back of his head is very large, but he won't let us stop the bleeding and stitch it. Please talk some sense into him. At his age, continuing to lose blood like this is very dangerous!"

Hearing that, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. A little more bleeding from his head was nothing. Thank goodness Old Liu wasn't dead!

Overjoyed, I scooped Old Liu up without even consulting him and carried him into the room, shouting:

"Doctor, I'll hold him down. You stitch him up!"

Old Liu was reluctant, but with us forcing the issue, the stitching and bleeding control went smoothly.

Once he was bandaged, Old Liu wore a stony expression, with several thick layers of bandages wrapped around his head. He looked pretty funny.

The doctor recommended that Old Liu stay in the hospital for observation, but the stubborn old man refused no matter what, so I could only smile and go along with his decision to leave.

Nothing in life was happier than being told that someone closest to you had died, only to discover unexpectedly that it had all been a misunderstanding!

After we walked out of the hospital, Old Liu still had a stern face as he said coldly:

"We've wasted so much time. Let's hurry back to that apartment complex and find Mr. He!"

Finding Mr. He was entirely for my sake. Despite being so badly hurt, Old Liu was still intent on helping me. I was deeply moved!

"Old Liu, there's no need to rush. Let's wait until your injury has healed a bit."

Old Liu shook his head and said:

"No. Mr. He is hard enough to meet as it is. We have to hurry and find him!"

I really couldn't change Old Liu's mind, so I followed him back to the apartment complex.

When we reached the seventh floor and found that Mr. He wasn't home, I sighed in disappointment.

Old Liu thought for a long while, then stamped his foot and said:

"Oh, I really am getting senile! I should have known Mr. He couldn't possibly be home!"

Puzzled, I asked Old Liu why. He said quietly:

"As long as Mr. He is around, no ghosts dare enter the home. There couldn't be any evil spirits in this entire building!"

Rather shocked, I said:

"You mean if Mr. He were staying here, that woman on the third floor couldn't have been possessed? Is Mr. He really that powerful?"

Old Liu nodded. "Forget this whole building. Even the wandering ghosts nearby would have to take a detour!"

His words made me even more certain that this legendary Mr. He was definitely the expert who had saved Old Wu ten years ago!

Since our search had come up empty, we decided to head back and look for more information.

We had just reached the bottom of the building when we happened to run into the woman who had been possessed earlier and her husband.

Her eyes were bright now, and she looked full of energy. She really had recovered.

When her husband saw us, he glanced at the bandages on Old Liu's head, hurriedly took his hand, and asked emotionally:

"Brother, are you badly hurt? We were just about to go to the hospital to see you!"

The woman beside him started to kneel when she saw Old Liu, and I hurried forward to help her up.

"Ma'am, please don't do that. Old Liu is fine now!"

The woman said through her tears:

"Thank you, brother. This illness has been tormenting me for over half a month. Without your help, I wouldn't have lasted many more days."

Old Liu wasn't one for polite formalities by nature, so he just kept saying there was no need to thank him.

The woman wiped away her tears and asked:

"You two don't look like you live in our complex. Are you here to visit relatives?"

I replied:

"We came to see Mr. He on the seventh floor, but he isn't home. Do you know where he might have gone?"

Hearing that, the woman nodded and said:

"Oh, you're Mr. He's friends. No wonder you're so capable. A gang took Mr. He away last month. Apparently, they wanted him to treat someone!"

I asked anxiously:

"Do you know exactly who took him, or where they took him?"

"When they came, their cars filled half the complex. Their leader was a pretty notorious thug around here called Scorpion. I don't know where they took him!"

I nodded, chatted with her a little longer, then headed back with Old Liu.

At the mention of gangsters, Bun Head was the first person I thought of. If this Scorpion knew Bun Head, things would be easier.

I called Bun Head. The moment he heard Scorpion's name over the phone, his voice rose:

"Who? Scorpion? That Scorpion from Fengman District? That bastard's my sworn enemy!"

Seeing that this wasn't simple and couldn't be explained in a few words, I told Bun Head to hurry over and meet me.

On the way back, I told Old Liu everything, from the ghosts I had recently encountered waiting for a bus to meeting Liu Yunbo in Tangwazi Village and discovering that the yellow paper figure had disappeared.

Old Liu didn't blame me for hiding my encounter with Liu Yunbo. He only sighed and said with considerable concern:

"That old bastard cursed you, weakening your yang energy, so it's normal for you to see unclean things. But what we really need to worry about is that yellow paper figure. A Hundred Ghosts Cry at the Door is no joke!"

A Hundred Ghosts Cry at the Door!

The old security guard had told me about it once a few days earlier. Ten years ago, the yellow paper figure had triggered A Hundred Ghosts Cry at the Door, causing the fire in 2386. It had cost Old Liu an eye, the old security guard half his face, and hundreds of people in half the building their lives!

My heart trembled. Ten years later, with this yellow paper figure set loose through me, what would happen now?

Seeing my fear, Old Liu said quietly:

"I really don't know what sort of sinister thing that old bastard's yellow paper figure is, but you don't need to be too frightened. As long as we find Mr. He before the fifteenth day of this lunar month, all of this can be resolved!"

I nodded in agreement.

Mr. He again. From the looks of it, whether I could find him had become a crucial matter in my life!

That afternoon, Bun Head brought two underlings to my dormitory. The moment he saw me, he asked urgently:

"What happened, buddy? Scorpion took the person you're looking for? Is your information reliable?"

I nodded. "Definitely. Someone saw it happen. Apparently, they wanted Mr. He to treat someone."

Bun Head lit a cigarette, crossed his legs, and said slowly:

"I did hear that Scorpion's dad has a terminal illness. But that's a physical illness. Why would he bring in a yin-yang master?"

I couldn't spare any thought now for whom Scorpion wanted Mr. He to treat. I only wanted to find Mr. He as soon as possible, especially since I was worried that working for gangsters carried considerable risks.

Seeing how gloomy I looked, Bun Head patted my shoulder and said:

"Scorpion mainly operates in Fengman District. Sister-in-law and I operate in the Development District. It's not that I'm afraid of him, but going to his turf to demand someone back might be a little troublesome. Still, don't worry. I'll handle this!"

Little Six chimed in from the side.

"What's so special about Scorpion? I've eaten plenty of lamb spine hot pot. We'll deal with him together!"

I said nothing. Watching Bun Head and Little Six, two friends with completely different personalities and styles, shoulder this trouble for me filled my heart with warmth.

With friends like these, what was there to fear?

Without alerting Sister-in-law, Bun Head rounded up twenty-odd men himself. Early the next morning, they filled our company's entire courtyard.

When Little Six and I went downstairs and saw all those people, we were genuinely startled.

Little Six stared wide-eyed and asked Bun Head:

"Are we going to a gang fight? Why don't just the three of us go and talk it over?"

Bun Head glanced at Little Six and said:

"What the hell do you know, you fat ball? When you negotiate with someone like Scorpion, if you don't bring some people to back you up, he won't even look at you."

Rather worried myself, I cautioned Bun Head:

"With all these people, it looks like we're going there to pick a fight!"

Bun Head patted my shoulder and said:

"Come on, don't worry. They'll stand outside, not go in. Besides, with this many people, there's no way a fight will actually break out. Scorpion knows that too."

I nodded, then got into the car with Little Six, heading to Fengman District to demand that Scorpion hand him over.

Although a large group of friends was following behind to help, I still felt inexplicably uneasy. Scorpion wasn't someone to mess with either. Would he hand him over so easily?

After winding through the city, we drove up to a five-star hotel in the Development District. We all got out, and Bun Head pointed inside and said:

"His place. That bastard spends all day in there. Let's go!"

Before we even reached the entrance, the guard at the door saw all of us getting out and hurried inside in fright to report it.

As soon as we entered the lobby, we came face-to-face with Scorpion, who had come downstairs.

I had always assumed that someone with Scorpion's fearsome reputation would be a big, burly man like Bun Head.

I hadn't expected the Scorpion before me to be a short, thin young man. Despite his slight build, though, he had a powerful presence and a vicious gleam in his eyes. One look told me he was no pushover.

Scorpion showed no fear at the sight of so many people pouring in. In a flippant tone, he asked:

"Bun Head, what's the meaning of this?"

I answered first:

"Sorry for the intrusion, brother. I heard you invited a Mr. He here. I need to ask him for help. Could you make an exception and let us meet him for a chat?"

Scorpion's face hardened. He glanced at me and said:

"No. You can't see him. Mr. He is treating my dad!"

Bun Head took offense at that.

"Your dad has a terminal illness. What the hell can a yin-yang master do about that?"

Bun Head's words were extremely offensive. I was just about to say something to ease the tension when Scorpion's eyes widened in fury.

"Bun Head, you're using this as an excuse to come pick a fight, aren't you?"

On the way here, we had agreed that Bun Head would keep his temper and talk things through, but the moment he saw Scorpion, he lost control. Pointing at Scorpion, he cursed:

"What fucking fight? I'm here to take him by force!"

Scorpion grew even angrier. "Mr. He's right upstairs on the second floor. You fucking think you'll live long enough to get up there?"

With that, he shouted, and dozens of men came thundering downstairs one after another.

It's over! I cried inwardly.

Things had spiraled out of control. With Bun Head's temper, I should never have trusted him to talk things through.

The two groups crowded together, packed several rows deep and ready to fight. Just as I opened my mouth to stop them, some reckless underling behind us threw a punch that sent Scorpion sprawling.

The moment Scorpion went down, the two groups erupted into a brawl.

Bun Head swung his fists left and right in front of me and shouted, "Brother, get upstairs!"

I hurriedly tried to squeeze through the gaps in the crowd toward the stairs, but two burly men over six feet tall suddenly pushed their way toward me and knocked me back with two punches.

Seeing this, Little Six hurried over, planted his fat body across their path, and shouted at me:

"I'll knock these two pillars down. You go upstairs!"

With that, he twisted his backside and grappled with the two men.

Seizing the opening, I darted past them and ran up the stairs to the second floor.

There were many rooms on the second floor, but the first room by the stairs stood out the most.

I hurriedly pushed the door open and rushed inside, only to stare in disbelief.

There was no Mr. He in this room at all, just a young man of seventeen or eighteen lounging on the sofa, watching television!