Chapter 197: Nightmare Strikes

"No wonder..."

Chen Ling recalled that when the ruffians discovered them moving the body last night, it was dark. They must have waited until the hospital's back entrance was less crowded, then used the family claim procedure to directly transport the body out of the morgue.

"As for the other two, they are both top surgeons at their hospital. I checked their surgical records for the past week; normally, each of them performs several surgeries every day. However, yesterday afternoon, neither of them performed a single surgery, and even some scheduled operations were cancelled... Coupled with what you observed, I'm ninety percent sure."

Chen Ling nodded. "In that case, should we find an opportunity to interrogate them separately?"

At this, Wen Shilin's expression became a little strange. He looked at Chen Ling, his eyes darting away, as if he wanted to say something but was hesitant.

"...What's wrong?"

"Lin Yan, I recall you're quite skilled, aren't you?"

"I'm alright."

"Then, could you tie the three of them up?"

Chen Ling stared at Wen Shilin in astonishment, finding it hard to believe such a bandit-like suggestion came from him.

"Here's the thing, let me explain," Wen Shilin said earnestly. "It's already certain that Frostleaf Hospital is involved in organ trafficking, right? We just openly barged into the hospital looking for clues, so the power behind the hospital must have gotten the news... I'm not afraid of them targeting me. What I'm afraid of is that in a panic, they might... silence those doctors."

"You're afraid they'll kill the doctors to cover up the truth?" Chen Ling understood Wen Shilin's meaning. Given the Stars Merchant Guild's typical methods, this was indeed something they would do.

"Exactly. This has happened to me several times before. I'd just found witnesses, and before I could formally interview them, they were killed... This made it impossible to pursue the leads further." Wen Shilin sighed deeply. "I also thought about tying them all up before, but... I don't seem to be able to knock them out."

Chen Ling was speechless.

"Alright." Chen Ling agreed with little hesitation. Even if Wen Shilin hadn't suggested it, Chen Ling had planned to interrogate—or rather, "interview"—these doctors. Since Wen Shilin's idea was similar to his own, there was no need to do it covertly.

Seeing Chen Ling agree, Wen Shilin was immediately delighted. "Where should I wait for you then? My place?"

Chen Ling was about to say something when he suddenly recalled the fluctuating audience expectation value he had just seen, and Wen Shilin's mention of the mastermind behind the hospital potentially silencing witnesses. His eyes narrowed slightly. Could it be that the warning from the expectation value originated from the mastermind behind the hospital? Otherwise, why would it only appear after they entered the hospital?

"No... I'll choose the location, and don't go back tonight either," Chen Ling said.

Wen Shilin naturally had no objections; for him, any place to stay was the same. "No problem."

A drop of blood streaked across the sky, swiftly transforming into a human figure on a deserted rooftop.

Jian Changsheng rubbed his tired eyes; two large dark circles were clearly visible. He had stayed awake all night trying to extract information from Liu Chen. If Chen Ling could obtain the information he wanted so easily, why couldn't Jian Changsheng? So, after Chen Ling left, Jian Changsheng gritted his teeth and continued to torture Liu Chen. Besides unilateral beatings, he used knives, whips, and everything else, working until dawn.

Strangely enough, after Chen Ling left, Liu Chen seemed less stubborn. After a round of torment, he still provided the information he knew. It was largely as Jian Changsheng had guessed: the bad news was that the Yan family had sent out most of their forces to capture him this time. The good news was that the few outsiders seemed to be inactive...

Jian Changsheng, now possessing the Blood Drop Gourd, had no fear of being tracked by ordinary people. However, those few outsiders, as the top combatants publicly available to the Stars Merchant Guild, were not easy to deal with.

While thinking, Jian Changsheng continued to travel using the Blood Drop Gourd, his figure swiftly moving across the rooftops of Aurora City. At the same time, a faint dark silhouette flashed across the sky. Jian Changsheng felt something flit past and looked up at the sky in confusion, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Is that... an eagle?"

In the distant sky, a black silhouette flapped its wings, soaring across the heavens at an astonishing speed. Under the strong sunlight, only a shape resembling an eagle was visible.

Jian Changsheng paid no mind and continued towards a nearby hill. At the base of the hill, he found the woods where he had previously stayed, and the solitary dog kennel. Jian Changsheng crawled into the dog kennel, fumbled in a corner for a moment, and pulled out an unopened loaf of bread. The food his uncle had given him last time, wrapped in a garbage bag, was almost gone. But Jian Changsheng didn't care; for him now, sneaking into any grocery store to grab some food was no difficult task... If possible, he specifically targeted grocery stores under the Stars Merchant Guild.

Jian Changsheng lay on the ground, chewing on the bread and watching the swaying trees outside the dog kennel. He felt reasonably good. Although the dog kennel was a cramped place to stay, at this critical juncture, it truly offered him a significant sense of security.

After finishing his meal, Jian Changsheng slowly closed his eyes, preparing to rest for a while. As his consciousness sank into sleep, everything around him seemed to blur.

He had a dream.

He dreamed that he was living in a paper house, like the paper effigies burned for the dead seen in funeral parlors—cramped and narrow, even more uncomfortable than the dog kennel. He lay on the hard bed and looked out the window. Outside was a hazy white layer, as if someone had pasted a white cloth over the window. Behind the cloth, blurred shadows flickered, as if someone was lurking outside the house, searching for something... Jian Changsheng held his breath, staring intently at the white window.

He didn't know when, but the lingering shadows disappeared. After a brief, deathly silence, a thin face slowly materialized on the surface of the white window, like a face with no depth, pressing smoothly against the glass. It was a strikingly colorful face: dark purple eyeshadow covered a third of it, two rosy blushes resembled the plump red cheeks of a New Year's print doll, and a delicate apricot-colored mouth was daintily pursed, no bigger than Jian Changsheng's thumb... This face remained quietly pressed against the white window, its unfocused pupils suddenly swiveling to rest at the very bottom of the eye sockets, looking down at Jian Changsheng lying on the bed.

This scene exploded in Jian Changsheng's mind like a clap of thunder! He gasped, abruptly sitting up from his sleep, nearly hitting his head on the top of the dog kennel. His back was drenched in sweat!

A blood-like setting sun cast its glow from the other side of the hill, staining the world an eerie red. Amidst the dim, dense woods, a demonic, paper-thin figure stood beneath a tree, its unfocused eyes staring fixedly in the direction of the dog kennel...

Suddenly, the apricot-colored mouth gradually split open, almost dividing the entire face in two! A strange, metallic grinding sound slowly emerged:

"...Found one."