Suspicion

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. The bowl of porridge in the Monkey's hand almost fell to the ground. An indescribable torrent of shock, heartache, anger, and immense sorrow instantly overwhelmed all his psychological defenses.

He couldn't imagine that such words would come from the mouth of a child who was only a few years old. She didn't even understand what "adding something" meant; she was simply telling her brother in the most extreme way she could comprehend that she didn't want to be a burden to him, even at the cost of her life.

Later, things took a turn for the better. The big boss behind my father's construction site, whether out of a change of heart or to avoid bigger trouble, personally stepped in and paid a sum of money far exceeding expectations, and also covered all the medical expenses.

Monkey's father was able to continue his treatment, and the family used the compensation money to buy a small grocery store in town, which finally brought their lives back on track. Monkey was also able to continue his studies.

But his sister's words, "I'll drink it all in one gulp," were like the deepest mark, forever etched in the Monkey's heart. It was the cruelest yet warmest secret between the siblings during those difficult years.

Lin Feng helped the completely drunk and nearly unconscious Monkey stagger out of the noisy barbecue restaurant. A night breeze made Monkey's stomach churn, and he vomited profusely by the roadside. Lin Feng patiently patted his back until he calmed down a bit before hailing a taxi.

He unlocked the phone with the Monkey's fingerprint and found his mother's number. The voice on the other end of the line was tired and hoarse. Hearing that the Monkey was drunk, she apologized repeatedly and gave Lin Feng an address—a place on the edge of the city that sounded very remote.

The taxi drove through the night and finally stopped at the entrance of a dimly lit alley. Following the address, Lin Feng, supporting Monkey, stumbled into a "Fuchao Guesthouse" whose signboard was crooked. The corridor was narrow and damp, filled with a musty smell mixed with the odor of disinfectant.

Knocking on the door of a guest room, the Monkey's mother opened it. She was a rural woman who looked much older than her actual age, wearing a faded, outdated coat, her face etched with wrinkles of weariness and anxiety, her hair casually tied up, somewhat disheveled.

When she saw her unconscious son, her eyes immediately reddened. She and Lin Feng quickly helped the Monkey to the creaking single bed in the room.

The room was dimly lit and sparsely furnished. Monkey's father sat on another bed, one leg dangling limply against the wall. His face was sallow, and his eyes were filled with guilt and helplessness. Seeing Lin Feng, he struggled to sit up, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, thank you so much, classmate... You've gone to so much trouble..."

The couple, nearly crushed by the burdens of life, thanked Lin Feng profusely. Their gratitude, tinged with humility, was heartbreaking.

Lin Feng looked at the cramped, cramped space, yet filled with the bonds of family affection. His gaze lingered for a moment on the sleeping Monkey on the bed, his haggard parents, and the little girl's worn-out schoolbag in the corner.

He didn't say much, only instructing the couple to "take good care of him and not to worry about the money," before turning and leaving the cheap hostel, which bore so much suffering, amidst the couple's repeated thanks.

As the night deepened, Lin Feng walked alone on his way home, the Monkey's drunken ramblings echoing in his mind, along with the image of that adorable, pitifully obedient little girl he had never met. Something seemed to stir slightly deep within his calm eyes.

Back at the residence provided by Lawyer Zhou, the room was eerily quiet, a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the small restaurant and the oppressive atmosphere of the hotel. Lin Feng didn't turn on the lights, but went straight to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room. Outside, the city's ever-burning lights shone like an inverted, illusory galaxy.

He stood there silently, like a sculpture blending into the darkness. The Monkey's pained face after getting drunk, the despairing diagnosis of "stage three lymphoma," and the deep, bone-chilling sorrow as he recounted the past, played back in his mind frame by frame like silent movie scenes.

If it's just a common ailment, or even an extremely rare and expensive one, Lin Feng has enough confidence and resources to intervene.

He now commands hundreds of assassins who have infiltrated all walks of life, from top medical experts to underground figures with special access.

With money paving the way, he could easily arrange consultations with top global experts for the Monkey's sister, get her admitted to the best hospitals, and use the most cutting-edge (even if not yet publicly available) drugs. All the costs were just numbers to him. He had no shortage of things that money and power could leverage.

But... it's stage three cancer.

These four words fell like a cold, iron gate, mercilessly. This was a desperate situation that money, connections, or violence could not reverse.

Modern medicine often falls short when facing advanced cancer; no amount of money can often only buy limited time and provide palliative care to alleviate pain.

This is a fundamental sense of powerlessness in the face of the natural laws of life (or rather, cruel changes), existing in a different dimension from the power he controls that governs the rules of human society.

He subconsciously rubbed his phone in his pocket. After a moment of silence, he finally took it out, unlocked it, and opened the mobile banking app. He did a few things, entered the amount, and verified his password.

The screen displayed a successful transfer of 500,000.00. He transferred another 500,000 to the Monkey's account. This couldn't cure cancer, but at least it would prevent the Monkey's family from exhausting their last bit of energy on money issues in the time to come, and it would lessen their material hardship as they accompanied the girl on her final journey.

After doing all this, he turned off his phone screen, and the room fell into darkness again. He closed his eyes, trying to suppress his surging emotions, but the Monkey's words lingered like a ghost.

I have a feeling... something's wrong.

It's not that I suspect the Monkey is making up stories to gain sympathy. The Monkey's pain is real, and that despair cannot be faked. Rather, certain details in the Monkey's narrative are like tiny thorns, pricking his mind and creating a subtle sense of incongruity.

He leaned against the cold glass and began to calmly recount every word the Monkey uttered while drunk, as if sorting through clues in a case. He peeled away the fragmented, emotionally charged words from the mire of emotion and subjected them to pure rational analysis.

Online... Parents are researching online...

The hospital... a specialized hospital recommended online...

Cancer... The first diagnosis was already stage three lymphoma...

These keywords, like scattered beads, collided in his mind.

Lin Feng's eyes snapped open in the darkness, a cold, sharp glint flashing within them. He had pinpointed the source of that sense of disharmony.

Without the slightest hesitation, his consciousness instantly sank into that profound system space, communicating with his assassin K.

"K, I need you to investigate a hospital for me. I need all the information about this hospital, from its official qualifications, shareholder background, and expert resumes, to its hidden fund flows, patient complaint records, online marketing channels, and all the companies and individuals associated with it... In short, dig up everything about this hospital, leave me with a complete inventory."

"Yes, Master."

As soon as Lin Feng issued this order, not only K, but also the other assassins under Lin Feng's command became active.