Chapter 53 Part 1

Lu Mingxuan didn’t dare say such disrespectful words out loud. He only dared to think about them in his mind. However, he was still young after all, and Lu Yanzhou knew him well. He noticed his unusual gaze and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing, I’m not thinking about anything.” The attempt to cover it up only made it more obvious.

Lu Mingxuan’s mind tensed up, afraid that Little Uncle would keep asking. Fortunately, Little Uncle’s attention wasn’t on him. Seeing that he wouldn’t say anything, Lu Yanzhou didn’t press further.

“Let’s head back.” Lu Yanzhou turned around only after the car’s shadow completely disappeared from view.

“Before Little Uncle arrived, only our own family’s cars came and went from Lu Garden. After Little Uncle came, things got a lot livelier.” Lu Mingxuan sighed.

And those who came were all ability users. Without Lin Juan, even if the Lu Family had great influence in the business world, it would be impossible for them to befriend such a secretive organization.

“Little Uncle, I finished the plan you gave me last time. Should I send it to you for a look?” Lu Mingxuan hadn’t been idle at home. Lu Family children began to gradually get involved in the family business once they turned eighteen.

Excluding Second Brother Lu’s two non-human children, Lu Mingxuan was the only young generation member of the Lu Family. Old Master Lu arranged for him to be exposed to everything he needed to know.

Lu Mingxuan didn’t resent this at all. He had much better business acumen than his father. Although the plan he made was a bit immature, in Lu Yanzhou’s eyes, he was still a talent worth cultivating.

Originally, Old Master Lu had planned to send Lu Mingxuan to intern at the company over summer vacation to gain some experience. But after Zhuang Yufeng’s reminder, Old Master Lu didn’t dare take the risk and could only keep him confined to Lu Garden until this crisis passed.

Future Zhuang Yufeng learned about Lu Mingxuan’s incident through later investigations. By then, it had been too long since the event, and Lu Mingxuan had only been checked incidentally while investigating Lu Yanzhou. The information wasn’t very complete, so Zhuang Yufeng only knew a rough timeframe and location—he couldn’t specify the exact time and place of the incident, only a general range.

Summer vacation, met with disaster outside.

Old Master Lu valued his only remaining grandson greatly. Now that he knew there was a calamity awaiting him, he certainly wouldn’t let him take any risks.

After driving for two hours, Lin Juan arrived at the rendezvous point.

“Brother Lin!” Seeing the car arrive, Shi Haochen’s eyes lit up. He jogged over. “I originally wanted to apply for the mission to pick you up, but I didn’t get it.”

Over the past period, his main tasks had been training, and he hadn’t interacted much with the ability users from the Anomalous Affairs Bureau. He was more familiar with those he trained with. It was only during this operation that he got to know the other ability users.

After getting familiar, he realized just how popular Lin Juan was among the ability users.

He wasn’t surprised by this. A powerhouse like Lin Juan deserved to be admired by all.

It was just that his preparations had been insufficient, and he hadn’t managed to snag the task of meeting up with Lin Juan. He felt a bit disappointed.

Lin Juan had already learned the operation plan from Director Liu in advance. Upon arrival, he didn’t say much. After the group took a brief rest, they got straight to the main event.

Cherish Clinic.

“This place hasn’t been demolished yet?” Lin Juan stood in front of the rundown clinic. The world’s development level wasn’t much different from his original world. Logically speaking, in a prime location like the Imperial Capital where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, abandoned buildings should have been dealt with long ago.

“This plot of land was bought by an overseas tycoon who said he planned to build a mall there. For some reason, it’s just been sitting idle without any construction starting.” Sheng Tianzong explained to Lin Juan.

Whether captain or team member, everyone needed to have an absolute understanding of the mission before any operation. Sometimes, an inconspicuous little detail could decide the success or failure of a mission.

Lin Juan: “Was that tycoon’s identity investigated?”

Sheng Tianzong: “Yes, the tycoon is named Honda Kaito from Country R. He passed away in Country M a year ago.”

Lin Juan: “He’s dead?”

Sheng Tianzong: “Yes, and the cause of death hasn’t been announced yet. Director Liu is still investigating further.”

Since the man was already dead, Lin Juan didn’t ask more. Instead, he looked toward the abandoned clinic ahead.

Though called a clinic, Cherish Clinic covered a large area, more like a small hospital. Under years of wind, frost, rain, and snow, cracks ran across the walls, which were covered in ivy. From afar, it looked like an ancient castle enveloped in vines.

The well-trained ability users moved forward to clear the path, while Shi Haochen’s ability made him the main combat force.

“The pollution value isn’t high.” An ability user stepped forward with a pollution detector.

After several upgrades, the current pollution detector was only the size of a palm, making it easy to carry. The Experimental Base was researching a wristwatch-style detector that, if successful, could simultaneously check surrounding environmental pollution values and one’s own pollution value.

Lin Juan walked over and glanced at the detector. It really wasn’t high, which explained why the Anomalous Affairs Bureau hadn’t paid attention to this place. Such a pollution value was far from the level that required attention.

The ability users cleared a path, and Lin Juan took the lead in entering.

The clinic wasn’t too badly damaged inside. As he walked, Lin Juan sighed, “The original owner of this clinic was really rich.”

Just looking at the interior setup, calling it a private hospital wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

The clinic interior was very spacious. After searching around, they found nothing.

Lin Juan followed his memory and searched for that operating room.

Sheng Tianzong instructed Shi Haochen to stay by Lin Juan’s side. Shi Haochen’s main purpose for this outing was to gain experience, and sticking with Lin Juan was the safest option.

It was a rare opportunity. Director Liu had greeted Lin Juan in advance to mentor Shi Haochen a bit, as long as there was no life-threatening danger.

Besides the rescue mission, Lin Juan had another task this time: to train Shi Haochen.

Director Liu had allocated a considerable sum as teaching fees to Lin Juan.

After coming to this world, Lin Juan’s money-losing constitution had mysteriously disappeared, and the balance in his bank card was more than he could spend. But no one ever complained about having too much money. The Anomalous Affairs Bureau was one of Lin Juan’s main sources of income, and he was always accommodating toward such easygoing benefactors.

Along the way, he only handled walking, observing, and finding clues. Anything off was left for Shi Haochen to deal with.

Shi Haochen didn’t find anything wrong with this. It was his first mission, and being by Lin Juan’s side made him extremely excited. He was eager to show off his abilities in front of Lin Juan.

Unfortunately, after searching around, they still found nothing.

Like a frostbitten eggplant, Shi Haochen’s high spirits visibly deflated.

Was their trip destined to end in failure?

Shi Haochen’s heart grew heavier and heavier. Suddenly, he spotted a red light ahead.

They had entered the clinic during the daytime, but the doors and windows were overgrown with ivy. Though the ability users had cleared some, the light inside was still dim.

After years of abandonment, the clinic’s wiring had long aged, and the lights couldn’t be turned on. The red light appeared very abruptly.

Shi Haochen instinctively looked over.

He saw a tightly shut door.

The red light came from above the door.

Shifting his gaze up, Shi Haochen saw the source of the red light.

It was the indicator light above the door, with the words “In Surgery” glaring conspicuously.

In a hospital where the wiring was completely aged and lights couldn’t turn on, how could “In Surgery” light up?

Shi Haochen immediately sensed something was wrong. “Brother Lin, look over here!”

Lin Juan also saw the tightly shut operating room door and the red light above it.

“Let’s go in and take a look.”

Shi Haochen followed the order and approached the door. He activated his supernatural ability 【Shadow】. A massive black shadow extended from his own shadow and violently rammed the shut door.

After two hits, the door was smashed open.

Shi Haochen dodged to the side, avoiding something that flew out from the operating room.

A silver flash streaked by, and a sharp scalpel embedded deeply into the floor.

Lin Juan strolled over and pulled out the scalpel.

A deep crack was left in the floor.

If Shi Haochen hadn’t dodged quickly, this scalpel would have embedded not into the floor, but into some part of his body.

As Lin Juan picked up the scalpel, he felt a chill spread from it into his body.

No matter how much training he had undergone, this was Shi Haochen’s first real combat experience. Seeing the sharp scalpel in Lin Juan’s hand, he felt a wave of lingering fear.

“When facing weird phenomena, you must always stay vigilant. Danger lurks everywhere—never let your guard down.” Lin Juan said.

“I know, Brother Lin.” Thanks to the intensive training over this period, though exhausting, the effects were obvious. Shi Haochen was certain that before the special training, he couldn’t have dodged the weapon flying out from the door.

The operating room door was now wide open, empty inside, but a faint bloody smell wafted out.

This time, Shi Haochen didn’t get careless. Instead, he controlled his shadow to slip in through the door crack.

Everything the shadow “saw” and “heard” would feedback to him.

The shadow searched around inside and dragged out a medical record book.

Shi Haochen handed the medical record book to Lin Juan.

The book was speckled with dark bloodstains, as if splashed on. Lin Juan flipped it open; it recorded the patient’s condition.

It started as a minor cold, but the condition worsened, spreading throughout the body and eventually requiring surgery.

Lin Juan didn’t understand medicine, but his intuition told him this medical record was off.

Flipping further, several pages had been torn out.

On the last page was a line of words:

Wrong, all wrong. This is all a conspiracy. I am the executioner…

The handwriting was hurried, with the final stroke dragging far away.

This unclear sentence could be interpreted in many ways.

Shi Haochen let his imagination run wild and guessed, “Could it be that illegal surgeries were performed in this operating room?”

Lin Juan recalled the scene he had seen in the school infirmary.

The adolescent boy, like a lamb to the slaughter, bound to the operating table, gutted open, vital organs removed one by one…

Connecting this to the clinic, Lin Juan had a bad premonition.

The two searched the operating room carefully again but found no other clues. They could only leave the operating room for now.

As soon as they stepped out, the surroundings changed dramatically from when they entered.

The windows were bright and clean; the clinic was much brighter inside. The ivy outside the windows had disappeared at some point. The floor beneath their feet gleamed, the overhead lights shone brightly, and the sound of footsteps mixed with approaching car tires grew nearer.

“Brother Lin, what’s going on?” With the situation unclear, Shi Haochen pulled Lin Juan to hide behind a large pillar.

From this position, they could observe everything outside without being seen by those outside. It was an excellent vantage point.

“We’ve probably entered that weird domain.” Lin Juan observed the outside. Several nurses were quickly pushing a mobile bed toward the operating room they had just exited.

“Brother Lin, I’ll go check who’s on the bed.”

Under the lights, everyone cast shadows, making it convenient for Shi Haochen to act.

Shi Haochen directed his shadow forward. The moment it “saw” the patient’s face clearly, his expression shifted slightly.

“It’s that person we saw in the Archives Room.” Shi Haochen steadied himself and reported his discovery to Lin Juan.

He didn’t retract the shadow but had it hide under the bed and enter the operating room along with it.

Soon after, Shi Haochen covered his mouth and bent over, dry heaving.

It was too bloody.

Shi Haochen couldn’t imagine witnessing such a scene.

What kind of surgery site was this? It was more like a murder scene.

In the operating room, cold light mercilessly poured down. The doctors surrounding the bed moved like machines programmed with some command, expressionless as they raised their scalpels and slashed open the adolescent boy’s chest on the table, reaching in to extract the still-beating heart inside.