Chapter 164 Chapter 163 "Tomb Guardian" is exactly the kind of talent that's missing.
This was the way he hated dying the most.
Perhaps due to excessive blood loss, he was now so tired that he could not even muster the strength to raise his arm. He could only lie on the ground, unable to move, watching helplessly as the foul-smelling zombies quickly approached him.
In his last breath of life.
There was no despair in his eyes, only regret and unwillingness to accept his fate.
If... if he had listened to his parents and not gone to that secret place, could he now be living happily with his family?
This had become the insurmountable barrier of his life; he didn't know how to get past it and now he never would. Perhaps death would be a relief.
But just then—
The Black Doctor suddenly sprang up from the ground and, just as the zombies were about to pounce on them, he grabbed Doctor Gou and hoisted him onto his shoulder, quickly diving into a nearby alley.
Then, with practiced ease, he weaved through the twists and turns.
Before long, they arrived at the entrance of their own clinic.
By now, countless wrecked vehicles littered the streets. As the city descended into chaos, many people instinctively took to their cars to flee. But in their panic, they drove too fast, ignoring traffic laws, resulting in strewn, collided vehicles everywhere.
Some cars had even started to burn.
By now, there were no visible flames, only internal smoldering. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, bearing testament to the catastrophe that had unfolded here.
Just as they were about to enter the clinic, the Black Doctor suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and stumbled, nearly falling over; his injuries were apparently just as severe, but he quickly pressed several acupuncture points on his body to stem the bleeding temporarily.
Then he fumbled for the keys from the unconscious Doctor Gou to unlock the clinic door, slipped inside, and pulled down the shutter behind them. Afterwards, he laid Doctor Gou on the operating table, ready to perform emergency surgery.
Sterilization, disinfection.
Although life had suddenly thrown them into such a chaotic situation, the young man known as the Black Doctor showed no sign of panic, his slender hands deftly moving in rhythmic motions.
First, he sterilized and disinfected both himself and Doctor Gou.
Then, he began to suture wounds, repair damaged organs, stop bleeding, administer blood transfusions, and the like in quick succession.
The young man was performing surgery on himself while simultaneously operating on Doctor Gou, who lay on the operating table.
The entire scene looked exceedingly eerie.
An external surgeon would find it difficult to perform surgery alone, without any assistants, as it meant doing everything personally, let alone simultaneously needing surgery themselves.
"You son of a—"
Doctor Gou on the operating table slowly opened his eyes, looking at the Black Doctor, who was suturing his own wound while attending to his, and managed to say with difficulty, "Give me some anesthetic, damn it. I can feel your hands stuffing my belly."
"It hurts!"
"Bear with it."
The Black Doctor's expression remained unchanged, and his hands did not stop for a moment, "If you get anesthetic now, it'll be hard for you to wake up again."
Doctor Gou suddenly smiled, looking at the young man who seemed a bit aloof: "With such great medical skills, why choose to be a Black Doctor?"
"I've told you before."
"Oh right, you did mention... it's because being a Black Doctor gets you money faster, right? By the way, I'm quite curious about what you did with that 500,000 I gave you. Can I ask? It looks like I won't live much longer, a heavy curiosity is understandable, right?"
"..."
The Black Doctor's movements hesitated for a moment, then continued calmly without any expression, "You can ask."
"I had a girlfriend six years ago. It was when I had just started as an intern at the hospital, and my salary was very low."
"We were madly in love with each other and very happy together."
"Then one day, she suddenly told me she wanted to go to Jingjiu City for better opportunities, saying she didn't want to stay poor all her life. I'd gotten into some trouble before, couldn't leave Broken Pot City."
"She left."
"This year she came back, saying she wanted to see me. Sometimes men are vain; I didn't want her to know that I wasn't doing well. I wanted her to see that actually, I was doing quite well, that leaving me was a mistake."
"So I became a Black Doctor, trying to make more money."
"With that 500,000, I bought a decent car and some expensive clothes."
"Later, I met her."
"She looked beautiful that day, as if emerging from the light, standing next to me making me feel like an ugly duckling. She smiled that day, the happiest smile I'd ever seen from her."
"She said she was very happy, scared that if she came back and saw I was doing well, it would make her feel like her past decision was wrong, and that would mean her years of striving and her initial decision were meaningless."
"But seeing me in this wretched state made her satisfied, indicating that her choice back then was correct."
"Her current salary is 500,000 a month."
"Tsk."
The tale the Black Doctor told seemed to act like anesthesia, easing Doctor Gou's pain considerably, his mouth involuntarily curling into a smile, "Sorry to touch a sore spot unintentionally. Though I've heard plenty of stories about lovesick fools, each story of these fools around the world seems unique."
"Each has its own flavor."
"Every time I listen to it, there's a new feeling."
"Cough, that is, no offense, but what about that car and all the gear later on? I never saw you driving it."
"I threw it into the river,"
the Black Doctor said calmly.
"Threw it into the river?"
Doctor Gou was slightly stunned, and his tone involuntarily rose, "That's half a million you threw into the river! Have you gone mad? Even if you didn't want it, you could have brought it back for the clinic, we don't even have a car of our own yet!"
"That was the salary I advanced from you, I can dispose of it however I wish."
"At that time, to flaunt my wealth, I threw the car into the river to show her I wasn't short of money."
"And then?"
"Then she saw right through me. Like a victorious female general, she left Broken Pot City forever at dusk, while I stood there like a clown, subjected to mockery."
"Tsk."
Doctor Gou couldn't help but click his tongue, "Sounds quite embarrassing. What happened after that? Keep going, I've never heard you talk about such things before. I didn't expect someone as cold as you to have had such a love."
"A man who is extremely insecure inside can become deranged when provoked."
"Clearly she didn't understand that."
As the Black Doctor carefully stitched up Doctor Gou's wound, he continued to speak calmly, "The moment I was exposed, I felt so ashamed I just wanted to flee this place quickly and after returning, I deleted her as a friend and never contacted her again."
"But before she left, she mocked me a lot."
"She despised me greatly for pretending to be rich when I wasn't."
"I found it a bit hard to accept."
"So I gave her that car, hoping she would like it."
"That car? Didn't you throw it into the river?"
"Yes, I stuffed her into that car. She should be resting at the bottom of the river by now. If you want to see, next time I have a chance I'll dredge it up for you to have a look."
"..."
Doctor Gou's mouth twitched slightly, not knowing how to respond for a moment. Clearly, despite earning half a million a month and the societal experience that came with it, he was not very aware of what kind of place Broken Pot City was—a place teeming with desperados.
Even if you make too much money, don't be too ostentatious here.
Those desperados won't care about your circumstances, if they say they're going to get you, then they're definitely going to get you.
Just like him, a law-abiding clinic owner who hadn't provoked anyone, was almost killed by a bunch of desperados, wasn't he?
He suddenly felt fortunate he'd kept the Black Doctor by his side.
This kid really did save his life.
Although this kid was no angel, he judged people not by what they had done, but by what they had done for him. In almost certain death, being willing to take him along to run, and then bringing him to the clinic to stitch up his wounds,
was already a life-saving favor.
If he survived this time, he would have to properly introduce the Black Doctor to Miao. This kid was a real talent, capable of performing two surgeries at the same time, and one of them was even on himself. His surgical talent was almost maxed out.
The 'Tomb Guardian' was in need of such talent.
Mostly unnecessary, but once needed, it's critical, just like now.
In a daze, Doctor Gou passed out. He had lost too much blood. He had kept going only by sheer willpower.
The Black Doctor glanced at the unconscious Doctor Gou, didn't say anything but looked at the empty blood bag, his brow furrowing slightly. After a moment of silence, he picked up a knife and left the room.
...
"No rewards at all,"
Chen Miao had just tentatively picked up a Thompson Submachine Gun and gave a burst to the zombies not far away, but there were no rewards. He didn't get anything, and he wasn't clear whether the people inside Broken Pot City received rewards for killing zombies, or if it was just them, the outsiders, who didn't get any rewards for killing zombies.
Moreover, he had noticed something else.
No matter how fierce the attack they launched, the zombies did not even turn to look at them. They headed straight for Broken Pot City with clear intent, and he couldn't understand how these zombies had appeared.
But their number never seemed to decrease.
The Fengtian City military had been firing for three minutes now, and a large number of zombies were being killed off like mowing grass, but it always seemed like the number of zombies didn't lessen at all, no different from a moment ago.
And at that moment—
Chi Qiu came striding over with Ke Gou, and with a serious expression, said, "Miao, do you remember me? We had a conflict at the noodle shop. I have an important piece of intelligence to report."
"Apart from me and the whole federation, only four people know this intelligence."
"This fixed event is not random, it can only be triggered after someone completes a mission chain."
"And the person who triggers this fixed event will also have a distinct characteristic."