Chapter 226: The Army Arrives
“Doctor, could it be that your reagent’s grade is too low?” Xu Zhi said, talking nonsense with a straight face.
Zhuang Xu flew into a rage. “How is that possible?!”
“The reagents I prepare are absolutely the best you can get in the lower levels!”
He wasn’t some run-of-the-mill underground back-alley doctor. What he had learned were upper-tier medical techniques and extraordinary knowledge—far beyond what ordinary lower-level black doctors knew.
If even his reagents couldn’t determine what attribute had injured Xu Zhi, then there was no reagent in the lower levels that could.
“However…” Zhuang Xu didn’t completely shut the door on the matter. “It’s possible that after all these years, the upper levels have developed new reagents. Mine might be outdated.”
After all, Xu Zhi’s injuries were clearly recent. He had been out of touch with the upper levels for many years—who knew what changes had happened without his knowledge?
“And reagent testing is ultimately just a conventional method. It’s still not as effective as using extraordinary abilities directly.”
Zhuang Xu started rambling on about things Xu Zhi didn’t particularly want to hear. She simply looked at him with a gentle, polite smile. “Doctor, then do you have any other methods?”
“Well…” Zhuang Xu hesitated for a moment. “Equipment and materials are limited down here. I do have other ways to test it, but they can’t be carried out in the lower levels.”
“Oh.” Xu Zhi nodded to show she understood and didn’t pursue the topic further, sparing Doctor Zhuang any awkwardness.
That made sense. A doctor stuck in the lower levels might have plenty of ideas, but all kinds of constraints made them impossible to put into practice.
From another angle, this also meant that as long as she stayed in the lower levels and didn’t encounter powerful extraordinary beings, there was little risk of her situation being exposed.
“Wait here. I’ll run a few more tests. Since your extraordinary ability has recovered, the medication needs to be adjusted.”
“However, medicine for extraordinary beings is much more expensive than ordinary medicine. If you can’t bring the consultation fee next time, I’m afraid I won’t be able to prescribe new medicine for you.”
Zhuang Xu wasn’t being greedy. Xu Zhi’s body genuinely required many medicines that were considered “precious” in the lower levels—especially those meant for extraordinary beings, which were even more costly.
Hearing this, a trace of worry appeared on Qi Yanxin’s face. Xu Zhi, however, didn’t mind much. She knew her extraordinary abilities were recovering rapidly, and along with them, her self-healing ability was steadily improving.
Even if she really couldn’t afford the medicine, she could simply stop taking it and wait until her self-healing reached a higher level.
Still, Xu Zhi cooperated and let Zhuang Xu give her a fairly comprehensive examination. The small clinic didn’t have much equipment—X-rays and CT scans relied on Xiao Man’s extraordinary ability. As for extraordinary-related tests, they were done using instruments and reagents engraved with special circuits.
“No major problems… strange. Why is your recovery so fast?”
Extraordinary beings generally had strong bodies and some degree of self-healing. But for most of them, that self-healing was a byproduct of physical strength and had clear limits. Xu Zhi’s level of bodily damage was obviously beyond what innate self-healing could fix.
And [Lamp] wasn’t an attribute that commonly produced self-healing abilities either. Usually, [Heart] was far more common.
Though puzzled, Zhuang Xu didn’t directly ask what Xu Zhi’s extraordinary ability was. That would have been too rude—no extraordinary being liked being asked that outright.
Just as Zhuang Xu was considering which new medicines to prescribe, the clinic door was suddenly pushed open. A visitor, looking travel-worn and hurried, rushed inside. Xu Zhi focused her gaze and recognized him immediately—it was one of Zhuang Xu’s old friends.
The man looked flustered. The moment he saw Zhuang Xu, he shouted, “Zhuang Xu! How are you still so relaxed? The army’s already here!”
Zhuang Xu frowned. “So fast? Didn’t you say half a month?”
The visitor spread his hands. “How would I know?”
A hint of helplessness appeared on Zhuang Xu’s face. “I knew you weren’t reliable! When has your intel ever been accurate?”
“Forget that—hurry up and hide all your shady stuff! The army’s right nearby!”
“Heh.” Zhuang Xu let out a cold laugh. “If I waited for you to warn me, I’d have been arrested eight hundred times already. I hid everything long ago.”
“But you said the army’s nearby?”
What was the army doing here?
“Yeah!” The visitor gestured animatedly, his tone exaggerated. “Didn’t you hear? Something happened in a nearby slum this morning. Somehow the army got word of it—I don’t know who tipped them off. And for some reason, those people who are usually busy to death suddenly started taking a murder case in the slums seriously.”
“You should’ve seen it—soldiers in uniform with guns, surrounding the whole slum. It’s entry allowed, exit forbidden!”
The others present all turned grim at the news, mostly because of the oppressive killing intent that the army represented. They didn’t understand why such a massive force would suddenly take an interest in a bloody case in the slums. Only Xu Zhi could guess part of the reason.
“I heard the army’s hunting for the killer and is planning to take everyone living in that slum in for questioning, one by one!”
At those words, Zhuang Xu’s gaze fell on the two sisters still in his clinic. He didn’t think they were the “killer” the army was looking for—he just knew they lived in that slum and glanced over instinctively.
“What kind of case is it?” Zhuang Xu asked curiously. He didn’t live in the slums and genuinely didn’t know what had happened that morning.
Though the visitor looked unreliable, his information was indeed well-sourced. “Seems like there was a serial killer who took advantage of the seasonal fog, sneaked into a lot of scavengers’ homes, brutally killed them, then dragged the bodies into the street and dismembered them. When the fog cleared this morning and people opened their doors—good grief—the streets were covered in blood and body parts!”
His description was vivid, but Doctor Zhuang frowned. “Dismemberment isn’t easy. To cover an entire street with blood and remains is even harder. Are you sure you’re not exaggerating?”
The visitor bristled. “I’m not exaggerating! It really was blood and body parts everywhere! And I heard it was very likely done by a single person!”
“One person?” Zhuang Xu sounded incredulous. “An extraordinary being?”
The visitor stroked his chin. “Most likely. No way an ordinary person could pull that off.”
Zhuang Xu’s eyes flicked almost imperceptibly toward Qi Yanxin, who had been showing clear unease ever since hearing the visitor’s account. Her reaction was normal—panic from an ordinary person caught up in an incident. But her sister, the patient who still couldn’t stand on her own, was unexpectedly calm.
Zhuang Xu thought of those [Lamp] types back at the academy—always calm, benevolent, aloof—and suddenly felt that this wasn’t hard to understand after all.
All cut from the same cloth.
“Didn’t you say the army might be searching for something? Why are they suddenly handling this case?”
It wasn’t as if vicious crimes or serial killers had never appeared in the slums before. The city authorities had never bothered, let alone the army.
“Who knows?” The visitor shook his head.
What he didn’t say out loud, Zhuang Xu understood perfectly well. Perhaps this case was connected to whatever the army was actually searching for.
After all, the army stationed in the lower levels didn’t serve the people there. They didn’t get involved in matters that didn’t concern them.
