Chapter 113

Chapter 113

After the group left the ward, they had only just pulled the door shut when the familiar shift-change bell rang out.

The cool south wind blows,

The nightingales sing in chorus,

The flowers beneath the moon have all fallen asleep,

Only Ye Lai Xiang breathes out its fragrance…

They looked out the window and only then realized the sky had brightened without them noticing.

Time remaining in the Instance countdown: four hours.

The next second, a crisp tap, tap, tap came from the end of the corridor.

Qiao Yu looked at the hunched old man at the far end. Under Chi Shang’s gaze, which went from shocked to calm, he waved. “Hi, little old man. Looking for Xiuyun?”

The response was the deafening crack of a cane striking the floor. “You rude little brat. Watch it, or I’ll fire you.”

Qiao Yu smiled and shook his head, putting away his delinquent air. “Mr. Tang Wen.”

The little old man gave an arrogant huff and strode over with remarkably brisk steps.

Alzheimer’s… sometimes lucid, sometimes confused.

The current Mr. Tang Wen should be lucid… right?

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the old man raised his cane and performed a perfect attention stance in front of Qiao Yu, then said proudly, “Look at me. Am I shining?”

Qiao Yu’s face went dark. Silently, he gave him a thumbs-up.

Then he asked tentatively, “Do you know Director Zhou?”

The little old man’s hand trembled around the raised cane. Suddenly, he broke down sobbing. “It’s my fault Little Zhou ended up like this, waaah… To save Xiuyun, I forced him to use that cloning technology to clone a heart, and that’s how that little beast got leverage over him, waaah…”

Shang Yan lifted his eyes and asked calmly, “You had that much money. Why didn’t you look for a heart donor?”

“Couldn’t find one.” The cane in the little old man’s hand clattered to the floor, his voice filled with grief and regret. “Xiuyun has panda blood.”

Panda blood was another way of referring to an extremely rare blood type.

No wonder. That really was something money might not be able to buy.

“Xiuyun. Have you seen Xiuyun?”

Qiao Yu spread his hands. “I haven’t. I’m sorry.”

After he said that, the old man picked up his cane and wandered away in a daze, muttering as he went, “If that unfilial son isn’t treating you well, come with me, Xiuyun… Xiuyun, where did you run off to…?”

Qiao Yu watched his hunched back and silently sighed. “So by leverage, he meant…?”

“The International Committee on Scientific Ethics once made it clear: all scientific experiments that are anti-human or violate ethical principles are to be stopped.” Shang Yan lifted Qiao Yu’s chin, amusement in his eyes. “Qiao Yu, cloning technology is far too uncontrollable. It is prohibited for clinical use. In other words, he broke the law.”

So… Qiao Yu, never touch that red line. Once you cross it, there is only an abyss with no end in sight.

Qiao Yu blinked rapidly, then gave a soft, “Oh.”

Luo Ziwei looked at Shang Yan, then at Qiao Yu.

Big eyes. Big question marks.

“Dad, so you’re henpecked?”

At that, Qiao Yu glanced at Chi Shang, whose OCD had kicked in and who was currently tidying the clutter on the service desk. Then he stared expressionlessly at Luo Ziwei. “When you get taken from behind someday, you had better not come crying to me.”

The question marks in Luo Ziwei’s eyes grew even larger. “What do you mean, behind and someday? Why would I cry someday? I can cry right now!”

He really was an idiot!

Qiao Yu stopped paying attention to him and held out a hand to Chi Shang. “Give me the Review Card.”

Chi Shang placed the notebook neatly on the desk, aligned it with the two straight edges at the lower right corner of the table, and felt much more comfortable. “Are we going to find Director Zhou now?”

As he asked, he handed the Review Card over.

But Qiao Yu shook his head. “We’re not looking for Director Zhou. We’re looking for the Instance Boss.”

Chi Shang’s eyes filled with the same question marks as Luo Ziwei’s. “Director Zhou isn’t the Instance Boss?”
Qiao Yu: “…”

These two didn’t exactly seem like the sharpest tools in the shed. Their offspring wouldn’t turn out stupid, would they?

Oh, right. The two of them couldn’t have children.

Qiao Yu was instantly relieved.

“Then who’s the Instance boss?” Chi Shang had a bit of a habit of digging things to the bottom.

Qiao Yu, however, said nothing. He simply took out his phone and started dialing.

Luo Ziwei stood off to the side, looking at the crossed-out signal icon on the screen, and carefully reminded him, “Dad, after the Instance Lockdown last night, our phones lost signal.”

“I know.”

Luo Ziwei: ??

“I’m calling a ghost. I don’t need a signal from the living world.”

Luo Ziwei & Chi Shang: “…?”

Qiao Yu pressed the phone to his ear and asked politely, “Hello? Are you busy?”

Phone Ghost: “…I am! I’m busy as hell!”

“That’s not a big problem. You’re already dead. Dying one more time won’t cost you anything. Die enough times and maybe you’ll get used to it.”

Phone Ghost: Are those human words?!

“If you’ve got something to say, say it. You’re annoying me to death!”

“Weren’t you busy to death? How are you annoyed to death now? You’re such a fickle ghost.”

“…If you don’t talk, I’m hanging up.”

Qiao Yu immediately snapped back into seriousness. “Can you call the police for me?”

Phone Ghost: ??

**

Elsewhere, Fan Jianqiang regrouped with Hua Mulan, bringing Hua Buwan and Fuck You along with him.

Everyone in the hospital ignored their sorry state completely, their eyes calm, as if they were looking at ordinary passersby.

That was seriously strange.

And when they arrived, they saw a gorgeous female ghost in a blood-red qipao, holding a feather fan, send that monster flying with a kick.

The monster stubbornly rolled back over, and she lazily stretched out her leg again, kicking it even farther away.

This was… “Holy crap, that son of a bitch – it’s the Nurse Ghost!”

After receiving a razor-sharp glare from the Pen Spirit, Fan Jianqiang quickly covered his mouth and hid behind Hua Mulan.

Even though Hua Mulan was scared, she still had to stand in front of several grown men trembling like sieves. With a body strong but a spirit crippled, she corrected him sternly, “Don’t talk nonsense. This is Lady Pen Spirit.”

Only then did the Pen Spirit reveal a satisfied smile. Although the word “Lady” wasn’t exactly fitting, it was barely acceptable.

The next second, the monster that had rolled far away rolled back again. Just as the Pen Spirit impatiently lifted her foot to kick it, the monster suddenly froze.

The hurried crowd froze in place as well. A lab report that had accidentally slipped from an old woman’s hand drifted slowly through the air, fixed in midair. Even the pendulum of a clock, swinging to the left, stopped and never fell back.

Suddenly, a pale, slender hand caught the lab report suspended in midair and tucked it back into the gray-haired old woman’s hand.

[Ding-Detected that I’m Your Dad has used a Review Card. Countdown: 03:12:36]

Time seemed to stop at that moment, yet the countdown continued tirelessly toward zero.

Qiao Yu narrowed his eyes at the middle-aged man walking in through the main entrance. “Tang Shenghong?”

Though the man was a capitalist, he carried himself with the refined air of a scholar.

Behind him followed an unremarkable-looking man holding a Soul-summoning Banner used to mourn the dead.

What made it terrifying was that the Soul-summoning Banner’s frame was made from human leg bones, with two entities called Skull Head hanging on each side. Without any wind, they still clattered together with crisp, chiming sounds.

His gaze was sinister, and his entire body reeked of baleful energy.

He was the one who had caused the Instance Lockdown, and he was also from the legendary Blind School, a branch under Maoshan.

Qiao Yu withdrew his gaze and looked back at Tang Shenghong, his voice carrying a trace of coldness. “Tang Shenghong, whether in life or in death, one must create value… right?”