Chapter 124: Underground Black Hospital
I almost forgot Zeng Xiaodao was still lying on the sofa. Shen Lu glanced at the time—it was already past nine—and realized she needed to deal with the situation.
After giving Cai Su some instructions, Shen Lu took off her chef’s coat and returned to the living room on the second floor.
On the sofa, Zeng Xiaodao, still in the form of a little girl, looked just as he had the night before.
’Right, I forgot to take off his mask.’
Considering Zeng Xiaodao was covered in blood, Shen Lu moved him to the floor to avoid staining the sofa.
The moment she removed the mask and the nano-freezer, the little girl’s form instantly grew taller. The pale blue hue covering his skin faded, and fresh blood began to trickle out once more.
Thankfully, the chef’s coat Shen Lu had wrapped him in earlier covered the crucial areas; otherwise, he would have been completely exposed.
In the guest bedroom, Fu Cheng clearly sensed the change in the living room’s aura and extended his consciousness to take a look.
The little girl on the sofa was gone, replaced by the grievously wounded Zeng Xiaodao.
’It’s him again!’
Fu Cheng pursed his lips. He remembered that Zeng Xiaodao had come to Shen Lu for help with an injury before and had even used some of his medicine.
Shen Lu stroked her chin in thought before sending a message to Ye Fan.
A short while later, Ye Fan knocked on the door.
"Boss Shen, I’m here."
Shen Lu went to open the door. "Come in."
Ye Fan’s eyes immediately fell on Zeng Xiaodao, who was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. He narrowed his eyes. "This is...?"
’I didn’t sense any suspicious individuals entering the shop yesterday, other than the little girl Shen Lu brought back who had almost no vital signs.’
’Where did this man pop out from?’
"That’s not important." Shen Lu couldn’t be bothered to explain. "Take a look at him. Given his condition, are there any clinics in the Lower City District that can treat him?"
Neither Shen Lu nor the body’s original owner was very familiar with the Lower City District. As mercenaries who spent their time in the Lower City District, Ye Fan and his associates would know the ins and outs that ordinary people didn’t.
Ye Fan had initially thought Shen Lu was calling him over to hold him accountable for something. After hearing her request, he crouched down to examine Zeng Xiaodao’s condition.
"It’d be best to take him to a proper hospital. The doctors at the clinics in the Lower City District are all more or less the same. They can’t treat wounds this severe."
"Is there no other way?"
"There is one, but it’s extremely risky."
"What is it?"
"There’s an underground hospital. Their medical standards are on par with legitimate hospitals, but they’re incredibly expensive. And... patients sent there sometimes end up as test subjects."
At that point, it would no longer be about getting treatment.
And since it’s an underground hospital, the patient’s family has no recourse. After all, the first thing you do upon arrival is sign a contract.
The contract states that you consent to the possibility of the patient becoming a test subject.
You can refuse to sign, but then they can refuse to admit the patient.
Of course, the chance of becoming a test subject wasn’t a hundred percent; it all depended on whether the patient was deemed to have any research value.
"Do you know how to get there?" Shen Lu made her decision without a moment’s hesitation.
’If they don’t take him somewhere, Zeng Xiaodao will definitely die.’
’Taking him to a legitimate hospital would lead to an investigation once he’s healed. A clinic can’t treat him. The only option left is to gamble on the underground hospital.’
"Boss Shen, are you sure?"
"I’m sure. Let’s go. He can’t wait. We need to be quick."
’Once this business with Zeng Xiaodao is settled, I still have to get back to cooking.’
Ye Fan fell silent. Shen Lu carefully wrapped Zeng Xiaodao in a bedsheet and had Ye Fan carry him out.
They hailed a rickshaw, and Ye Fan directed it to a very remote area.
It was right up against the city wall, a desolate expanse of yellow sand and a few scattered, crumbling walls, with no signs of human activity.
Ye Fan got out with Zeng Xiaodao in his arms. Shen Lu paid the fare and followed him.
After they had walked for a bit, Ye Fan suddenly stopped.
"Boss Shen, perhaps you should just wait here."
It was the first time Ye Fan had been so considerate toward a boss, but Shen Lu’s food was delicious and she was generous with them. He wanted to stay on her good side.
"Alright." Shen Lu took out ten thousand Star Coins and stuffed them into his coat pocket. "Will this be enough?"
"Should be."
Ye Fan disappeared with Zeng Xiaodao behind a cluster of ruined walls. Though curious, Shen Lu obediently waited where she stood.
She checked the time on her Light Brain. ’It’s been twenty minutes since I deactivated the nano-freezer. I wonder if the admission process is complicated. I hope he doesn’t just croak before they even start treatment.’
Shen Lu checked the progress of her hidden mission again. ’Great, it’s still stuck at 6%.’
Shen Lu asked, "If Zeng Xiaodao dies, will the progress for this hidden mission be stuck here forever?"
[Not necessarily. Success depends on human effort, you know~]
Shen Lu replied, "I have a gut feeling that if he dies, the mission’s difficulty will quietly increase."
[...]
The system fell silent. It had to admit, its host’s intuition was scarily accurate.
As her mind raced, Ye Fan returned, a complicated expression on his face.
"What is it?" Shen Lu asked.
"Um, they didn’t take any money. In fact, they gave me 5,000 Star Coins." Ye Fan took out the ten thousand she had given him, along with another 5,000 Star Coins from the underground hospital.
"Huh?" Shen Lu was dumbfounded. "So, was my friend taken as a test subject?"
’How else could this be explained?’
Ye Fan shook his head. "No."
’This is too weird.’
Shen Lu looked at the stack of 5,000 Star Coins that weren’t hers and decided against taking them. She only took back her own ten thousand.
"You can keep these 5,000 Star Coins. Consider it a fee for your trouble."
Ye Fan raised an eyebrow, seeming to understand Shen Lu’s implication.
’The young woman is afraid of getting dragged into trouble, so she’s refusing the money. After all, I’m the one who brought the guy to the underground hospital in the first place.’
But he didn’t refuse, simply saying, "Alright."
’Every mercenary has their share of trouble, right?’
’Shen Lu is my boss now. It’s my job to solve problems for her.’
"Let’s head back to the shop."
Shen Lu didn’t want to linger. Her mind was already on the braised pork for the day.
The two returned to the shop, and Shen Lu immediately changed her clothes and dove into the kitchen.
Cai Su was a competent assistant. In the short time Shen Lu had been gone, she had kept an eye on the heat for the braised pork, prepped the ingredients for the spicy hot pot, started the rice steaming, and even smashed and minced all the garlic for the stir-fried greens.
’I can’t even begin to describe how relieved I am,’ Shen Lu thought. ’Having an employee like this is just awesome.’
[DING DONG~ Mission Issued: Sell 150 servings of the braised pork set meal, achieve a total revenue of 35,000 Star Coins, and maintain a customer satisfaction rating of three stars or higher. Time limit: eight hours.]
The daily mission had been issued.
Shen Lu waited, but a second "ding" never came.
’Alright, looks like there’s no bonus mission today.’
The thought of the bonus mission she had come so close to completing yesterday made her heart ache with frustration.
The last time she’d completed a bonus mission, she’d gotten a business license, proving that the rewards were very nice indeed.
’If Gao Jie and his buddies hadn’t shown up yesterday, maybe I would have completed that bonus mission.’
Unfortunately, that was out of her control. Once the video was out there, it attracted all sorts of customers, both good and bad.
Still, when it came to customers, the more the merrier.
As for those nitpicky, troublemaking customers, Shen Lu was confident she would eventually find a way to deal with them.