2025-10-14 16:05:15The message arrived before dawn. “URGENT: Hospital Board Inquiry. Attendance Mandatory.”
Rick read it twice, the words blurring on the screen. His stomach tightened. The rain outside hammered the window in steady rhythm, too much like a pulse he didn’t want to hear.
Evelyn stirred under the covers. “Another emergency?”
He shut off the screen. “Board meeting. They want to review the Lila case.”
Her voice thickened with sleep and dread. “Already?”
“Someone leaked footage,” he said quietly. “Probably internal.”
Evelyn sat up. “Rick… don’t go in there alone.”
“I have to.”
He dressed in silence, the glow of the golden rune briefly lighting his wrist before fading beneath his sleeve.
The boardroom smelled of disinfectant and tension. Seven members sat in a semicircle, holo-screens casting their faces in pale blue light. Yuren Sun stood at the far end, hands clasped behind his back, calm, unreadable.
The chairman, Dr. Mei Zhao, adjusted her glasses. “Dr. Franklin. We’ve received an external complaint from the Healers’ Syndicate regarding your conduct during the Lila Morrison resuscitation.”
Rick kept his voice steady. “What complaint?”
“That you performed an unauthorized procedure involving non-standard acupuncture meridians, without peer supervision or institutional approval.”
Rick’s heart thudded. “I saved her life.”
Mei Zhao’s tone remained cool. “That isn’t the question. The Syndicate is concerned that your method constitutes the use of esoteric biotechnic intervention, an act prohibited under Article 47 of the Medical Ethics Accord.”
Across the room, a man in a black coat sat silently, Syndicate insignia glinting on his lapel. His eyes never blinked.
Rick forced himself to breathe. “With respect, Article 47 forbids untested gene-altering tech. I used needles and pressure points, nothing supernatural.”
The man finally spoke, voice soft but edged. “And yet the child’s body emitted anomalous luminescence. Explain that.”
Rick looked to Yuren, who gave a slight nod, permission to answer but not to confess too much. “I can’t explain it,” Rick said. “All I know is that her pulse synchronized when I aligned the channels.”
The Syndicate man leaned forward. “Aligned them how?”
Rick hesitated. “By instinct.”
A murmur swept the board. Mei Zhao tapped the table. “Enough. Master Sun, as his mentor, what is your evaluation?”
Yuren stepped forward, voice measured. “Dr. Franklin acted under extreme duress. His decision was reckless but not malicious. I take full responsibility for his training.”
The Syndicate agent’s gaze sharpened. “You defend him.”
“I defend life,” Yuren replied. “Something your regulations occasionally forget.”
The room froze at the challenge. Mei Zhao sighed. “The board will deliberate. Until further notice, Dr. Franklin is suspended from independent procedures.”
Rick opened his mouth, but Yuren’s look stopped him. When they stepped into the corridor, Rick whispered, “You said you’d help me.”
“I am,” Yuren murmured. “By keeping you alive.”
By midday the hospital corridors buzzed like a hive. Everywhere Rick turned, whispers followed. “Did you hear? He’s under investigation.”
“The Syndicate thinks he used forbidden meridians.”
“Maybe he sold data to the underground clinics.”
Each rumor twisted sharper than the last. Rick pushed into the staff lounge, jaw clenched. Evelyn stood by the coffee dispenser, eyes wide. “Rick, what happened?”
He poured himself black coffee, hand shaking. “They’ve suspended me. Pending investigation.”
Her face paled. “God. The media’s already running with it. They’re calling it the Golden Fraud.”
He set the cup down too hard; coffee splashed over his fingers. “Isaac’s behind this.”
She hesitated. “You can’t prove that.”
“I don’t need proof. I can smell his fingerprints.”
Evelyn lowered her voice. “Yuren told me to keep you calm. If you fight the Syndicate, they’ll erase your license.”
Rick’s laugh was hollow. “Maybe that’s what they want.”
From the doorway came another voice, cool, amused. “Or maybe you brought it on yourself.”
Isaac leaned casually against the frame, tablet in hand. “I just watched the footage. Impressive light show. Want to tell me how you did it?”
Rick’s eyes narrowed. “You leaked it.”
Isaac’s smile didn’t waver. “Hard to leak what was already under review. Maybe the world deserves to see what kind of miracle worker they’re employing.”
“Careful,” Rick said softly. “You’re playing with lives.”
“Only yours.”
Evelyn stepped between them. “Stop this. You’re both doctors.”
Isaac’s tone turned sharp. “He’s not a doctor. He’s a gambler with a god complex.”
Rick took a step forward, but Yuren’s sudden voice froze them all. “Enough.”
The master entered, gaze cutting through the tension. “My office. Now, both of you.”
Yuren’s office felt smaller with both apprentices inside. Rain streaked the windows, thunder rumbling above.
Yuren sat behind his desk, fingers steepled. “You’ve turned my ward into a battlefield.”
Rick started, “Master, I.”
“Silence.”
He turned to Isaac. “You’ve been feeding rumors to external auditors. Do not insult me by denying it.”
Isaac met his gaze without flinching. “I shared data. Not rumors. Transparency protects the institution.”
“Transparency?” Yuren’s tone iced over. “Or ambition?”
Isaac’s jaw tightened. “Someone had to stop him before he drags your name down with his superstition.”
Rick’s fists clenched. “You think I wanted this?”
“You crave it,” Isaac shot back. “Every glance, every whisper, you feed on it.”
“Enough!” Yuren slammed his palm on the desk. The lights flickered.
For a moment the air itself seemed to hum, the faint golden resonance that always followed Rick now bleeding into the room. Isaac took a step back. “You see? It’s happening again.”
Rick looked down. His wrist glowed faintly through the fabric, light leaking like blood. Yuren rose slowly. “Rick. Control it.”
“I’m trying,” he whispered, but the pulse answered faster, syncing with the thunder outside.
Yuren caught his wrist, pressing a thumb to the rune. “Breathe.”
The light dimmed, though not before Isaac’s tablet recorded every flicker. When it was over, Yuren released him, voice low. “Both of you will report to the Clinical Review Division at dawn. You’ll assist in the trauma ward under supervision until the board decides otherwise.”
Isaac exhaled, victorious. “Understood.”
Rick stood rigid. “You’re grounding me.”
“I’m protecting you,” Yuren said. “From them, and from yourself.”
Rick wanted to shout, but Yuren’s weary eyes silenced him. Isaac left first, smirking. The door clicked shut.
Yuren turned to the window. “The Syndicate has begun to move. And you’ve given them reason.”
Rick’s voice broke. “I saved a child.”
“I know,” Yuren whispered. “And they fear what that means.”
Outside, lightning forked across the Salt Lake horizon, white veins glowing in the dark water. Rick stared at his reflection in the glass: pale, haunted, with a faint trace of gold pulsing beneath his skin.
He murmured, “If healing is a crime, then what am I?”
Yuren didn’t answer. The thunder did.
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Chapter 322
Rick stood tall. He gripped his staff. He knew Isaac could not see him or hear him right now. This was a pre-recorded message, triggered to activate a few hours after the raid."You are probably wondering why I let you escape with those thirty sick scavengers," Isaac's hologram smiled softly. He adjusted his thin silver glasses. "You think you won a great victory tonight. You think you saved them from the incinerator."Isaac folded his clean white hands on the glass desk. "I did not want to kill them, Rick," Isaac explained calmly. "I needed them to be rescued. I needed you to touch them. I needed you to bring them back to your secret, hidden rat's nest."Rick felt a cold drop of sweat slide down his back."You see," Isaac continued, his voice echoing in the damp tunnel. "I knew I could not track you. You are a ghost. You hide your magic too well. But sick, terrified, ordinary people? They are very easy to track."Luna gasped. She looked at the thirty new refugees sitting in the train
Chapter 321
The warm water felt wonderful. Rick sighed. He opened his tired brown eyes and looked at her. "Thank you," Rick whispered."You are a fool, you know that?" Luna smiled gently, wiping a streak of dirt from his cheek. "You walked right into the smartest man's trap.""I know," Rick said. He frowned. He looked down at his own hands. "Isaac is a genius. He knew exactly what I would do. He knew I could not stand in the shadows and watch a little girl die. He used my vow against me as a weapon."Luna stopped washing his face. She let her hand rest on his knee. She looked at him with very serious, very deep brown eyes."I have been thinking about Auditor Isaac," Luna said quietly. The noise of the busy clinic covered her soft voice. No one else could hear them."He is evil," Rick stated flatly. "He is a greedy, heartless monster. He wants to put my magic in a bottle and sell it to the rich. He is worse than Yuren."Luna shook her head slowly. "No, Rick," Luna said. "That is the scary part. He
Chapter 320
Rick stood in the center of the crater he had made. The brilliant, pure emerald green light of his Earth Qi slowly faded away. The bright glow pulled back into his skin. The alley became dark again, lit only by the weak, orange light of the fake doctor’s small lantern.The fifty Hunter-Killers were completely destroyed. Their heavy silver armor was crushed against the rusted iron walls of the alley. Sparks of red electricity popped and died in the muddy puddles.Overseer Graves lay in the dirt. He was groaning in pain. He was not dead, but his body was badly broken. The shockwave of pure healing magic had knocked him unconscious for a moment.Rick breathed heavily. His chest moved up and down. He felt incredibly weak. He had used a massive amount of his true, pure magic. But his soul felt clean. The dark, ugly gray sludge was gone. He was the Ghost Doctor again.Rick looked at the thirty innocent people. They were kneeling in the mud. The burning red electric chains that had tied the
Chapter 319
Rick opened his eyes. They were completely flat and gray. He stepped back from the edge of the rusted bridge. He gripped his staff. He turned around. He was going to walk away into the dark. He was going to let them die to protect the greater good. It was the hardest, most terrible choice he had ever made.Down in the alley, Overseer Graves smiled. Graves dropped the screaming little girl into the mud next to her bleeding father. "Chain the brat," Graves ordered a silver guard.Then, Overseer Graves did something very strange. He did not look at the prisoners. He did not look at the fake doctor on the ground.Overseer Graves slowly tilted his head back. He looked straight up. He looked directly up at the tall, dark, rusted bridge hanging hundreds of feet in the air. He looked exactly at the spot where Rick was hiding in the shadows."I know you are up there, anomaly," Graves called out loudly. His cruel voice echoed through the deep scrap canyon, carrying perfectly up to the high bri
Chapter 318
From the thick yellow smog at both ends of the alley, heavy metal boots stomped into the mud. Clank. Clank. Clank.Fifty Hunter-Killers marched into the alley.They wore thick, gleaming silver armor. They carried massive red hand cannons that hummed with deadly electricity. Bright red laser sights shot out from their weapons, sweeping across the terrified crowd of sick people.Hovering in the air above the alley were three giant, black Surveillance Drones. Their massive red searchlights pinned the crowd in the dirt.The Night Line of thirty sick patients panicked. They screamed and tried to run."Nobody move!" a loud, robotic voice boomed from the silver guards. "By order of the Pharmaceutical Guild and Auditor Isaac, this area is completely surrounded!"The sick people froze. They dropped to their knees in the freezing mud, putting their hands on their heads. They were terrified. They were trapped.Rick watched from the high bridge. His breath caught in his throat. “A raid,” Rick re
Chapter 317
High above the dirty, twisting mountains of the junkyard, Rick crouched in the shadows. He sat on a rusted metal bridge. The bridge was broken and dangerous. It hung hundreds of feet in the air, right over Sector Nine of the scrap maze.Rick did not move. He breathed very slowly. His body was covered in dark purple bruises. His ribs ached with every breath. It had been three days since he escaped the bright, white tower of Auditor Isaac. He had exploded the silver Extraction Engine. He had shattered the thick glass cage. He had fallen back down into the dark, toxic mud of Rustgate to hide.Luna and Ash were safe. He had hidden them deep underground, far away from the city patrols. But Rick could not rest. A doctor cannot sleep when the city is bleeding.He looked down into the dark valley below him. The thick, yellow smog swirled slowly. It looked like a dirty, poisoned ocean.He pulled his new dark gray coat tightly around his shoulders. Luna had stitched the torn pieces of his old
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