2025-11-25 00:14:34The hospital ID badge from the thug, Li Wei, was still sticky with my blood, but its purpose was instantly clear: the City Central Hospital was my destination. The System’s internal holographic map, now overlaying my vision like a high-tech filter, glowed blue over the hospital complex. It indicated the location of the mandatory first mission: Elder Qin (VIP Unit, 12th Floor). I didn’t hesitate. The System didn’t ask for my consent; it commanded compliance. And since my body felt perfectly calibrated and my mind sharper than any surgical scalpel, I followed its instructions without question.
I arrived at City Central in my bloodied clothes, the fabric heavy with past violence, my senses hyper-alert to every shadow, every movement. The 12th floor was a picture of hushed panic, the kind that only money and desperation could produce. Security detail was layered three deep, each officer radiating tension, every muscle taut and ready. At the end of the hallway, the VIP door loomed like a fortress, guarded by men whose expressions reflected fear and protocol equally. I walked straight toward it, each step measured, deliberate, my heartbeat steady despite the adrenaline still coursing through my veins.
A man in pristine scrubs practically collided with me. His white coat was immaculate, his hair slicked back, eyes wide with self-importance. The badge pinned to his chest read Dr. Ma, Chief of Staff. He stopped dead, nostrils flaring, his gaze traveling over the blood on my shirt, the dirt on my shoes, the faint gleam of power in my eyes.
“Who are you? What is this filth doing on the 12th floor?” Dr. Ma barked, every syllable sharp with fury.
I held up the hospital ID badge I had taken from the thug. “Li Wei’s ID. I need to get to Elder Qin’s room.”
Dr. Ma snatched the badge, barely glancing at it before tossing it to a nearby security guard. “Security issue. Deal with it. And you,” he hissed, pointing a manicured finger at my chest, “you look familiar. Jiang Hao? The Lin family’s useless son-in-law? I heard you were finally cut loose. What are you doing here, trying to beg for a job?”
“I’m here to help,” I replied, my tone level and unshaken.
He threw his head back and laughed, a single, incredulous sound that echoed down the polished hallway. Nurses nearby exchanged nervous, pitying glances, unsure whether to intervene or flee.
“Help? With what, janitor? Mopping up your own spilled failures? You think the 12th floor is where you beg for a cleaning position? You have the audacity to walk into the most critical wing of the hospital looking like street trash?” He stepped closer, crowding me, his words slicing with the confidence of someone who had never feared consequence. “Listen, boy. I tolerated your pathetic presence here for five years because Lin Yue was a board member. Now she’s tied herself to Zheng Fei, which means you are less than nothing. Get out.”
“I’m not begging,” I said calmly. “I’m here because Elder Qin needs immediate intervention. The current treatment is poisoning him.”
Dr. Ma froze. His eyes widened in disbelief and then narrowed, sharp as a blade. “Poisoning?” he repeated, incredulous. “Are you diagnosing the Elder of the Qin family while standing in blood-soaked clothes? Do you even know who is treating him? Dr. Lin! The renowned authority on rare cardiac afflictions! He was flown in from the capital! Do you think your minimum-wage brain can comprehend his treatment protocol?”
“It doesn’t require a degree to see systemic shutdown,” I retorted. “The treatment is focused on regulating the heart rhythm, but the core issue is micro-cellular ion failure, not cardiac arrhythmia. The medication is stressing his liver and kidneys beyond repair. It’s palliative care leading directly to organ failure.”
Dr. Ma’s face twisted, his pride wounded by the precise technical language I wielded. He needed to assert superiority, to humiliate me publicly, to regain control. “Janitor! You are a pest! You want a job? Fine. Here is your job.” He grabbed a mop bucket and a long-handled floor buffer from a nearby station and shoved them toward me. “Elder Qin is dying. The prognosis is a few hours. The entire medical elite of A-City is walking this hall. You will clean this floor until it shines. You will not speak. You will not look at anyone. You will stay out of the way of true professionals. Do I make myself clear?”
He thrust the buffer’s cold handle into my hands. “Get cleaning. Now. And one word out of your mouth that isn’t about floor wax, and I have security drag you out and press charges for harassment.”
I accepted the buffer, its weight solid in my grip, a reminder of the divine energy thrumming through my veins. Fine. Observation is the priority.
“Understood, Dr. Ma,” I said, starting the buffer with a harsh WHRRR that scraped loudly across the polished marble. He flinched and stepped back. “Watch the scuff marks! Idiot!” He stalked away toward the group of consultants who now cautiously returned to their duties.
I began the task, the repetitive hum of the buffer oddly meditative against the chaos of the hallway. Doctors paraded past—every elite specialist in the city—each expression carved from desperation and failure.
“It’s a disgrace,” muttered a silver-haired man in a Brooks Brothers suit, speaking to a colleague. “Dr. Lin’s protocol is sound, but the Elder isn’t responding. We’ve exhausted all conventional routes.”
“The blood pressure is tanking again,” whispered a young intern. “They’re prepping the crash cart. He’s crashing faster than predicted.”
Every professional passing the VIP door activated the System’s diagnostic overlay, casting their anxieties, confusion, and fear into visual projections I could read instantly. Most importantly, the Elder’s vital signs were displayed above the door, an ever-updating status bar of life and death.
PATIENT: QIN (ELDER)
PRIMARY DIAGNOSIS (Dr. Lin): Refractory Ventricular Tachycardia (RV-Tach) Secondary to Myocardial Ischemia
SYSTEM DIAGNOSIS (Divine Healing): Stage 4 Cellular Ion Imbalance, Toxic Cascade due to Incompatible Pharmaceutical Intervention
CORE AFFLICTION: Qi Deviation / Energy Blockage (Unstable Core Foundation)
CURRENT STATUS: Critical. Hepatic and Renal Function @ 12%. Cardiac Integrity Degrading
TIME REMAINING: Approx. 3.5 Hours
The System’s overlay dismissed the consensus of every medical authority with cold, surgical precision. Three lines of technical data and the ancient term Qi Deviation confirmed what my instincts already screamed: Dr. Lin’s treatment was fatally misaligned with the Elder’s true condition.
Dr. Ma returned, sweating despite the air-conditioning, pale as he conferred with security. Panic rippled across his features.
At the far end of the hall, chaos erupted. Dr. Lin appeared, tall and intense, carrying a metallic medical case that gleamed like the last hope. His movements were frantic, precise, and purposeful.
“Dr. Lin! Thank goodness! The Elder’s condition is destabilizing rapidly! We are losing him!” Dr. Ma exclaimed, trying to intervene.
Dr. Lin didn’t acknowledge him. “Move aside, Ma! I have a new compound. It’s an untested peptide stabilizer. High risk, but it’s the only option left. If this doesn’t work, we will lose him in the next hour.”
“High risk?” Dr. Ma sputtered, aghast.
“Yes, high risk! But we have to try!” Dr. Lin shoved past him and disappeared into the room, his team close behind.
Dr. Ma turned back to me, his expression the perfect mix of defeat and fury. He slammed his fist into the wall beside my head, making me flinch but not breaking my focus. “Don’t you dare look at me, Jiang Hao! This is the weight of real life, the kind you’ll never understand. Stay out of the way, janitor. Clean your grime. Dr. Lin is the only chance left.”
I met his gaze calmly. “Hours, you say?” I asked, voice chillingly soft.
“Less than that now,” Dr. Ma replied, eyes wide with genuine malice. “He’s getting the final intervention. And if Dr. Lin fails—when he fails—the Qin family will scorch this hospital to the ground. You have no idea what’s at stake.”
I turned my attention to the closed VIP door. The System’s overlay updated instantly.
CORE AFFLICTION: Qi Deviation / Energy Blockage (Unstable Core Foundation)
CURRENT STATUS: Critical. Treatment Toxicity Level @ 98%
IMPACT OF NEW COMPOUND: FATAL ACCELERATION
The System didn’t ask for my opinion. It stated the truth. Elder Qin would die instantly if Dr. Lin administered the compound. Time was a blade cutting down every second.
I dropped the buffer. The loud CLANG reverberated through the hallway, shattering the tense quiet. Dr. Ma spun around, mouth open, panic flooding his eyes.
And that was when everything shifted. My hands moved on their own, guided by the System and the knowledge it had downloaded. Every action I had been too slow for five years, every hesitation replaced by instantaneous execution.
Dr. Ma froze. The security guards tensed. The hallway became a trap of decisions, and the first move was mine.
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Chapter 16: The Trap is set
I ordered Luo Bing to keep the medical annex secured and to ensure Elder Qin understood that my sudden absence was a tactical maneuver, not a retreat. The problem wasn’t the Master’s strength—it was his secrecy. The mole’s location depended entirely on him. And the only way to crack that link was to neutralize and interrogate the Master himself.“The Master now knows two things about me, Luo Bing,” I said, strapping the lighter alloy sheath onto my forearms. “One: I am the Shadow Heir, a threat buried in history. Two: I have techniques he cannot comprehend. He left the poison signature to provoke me, to force me into a mistake. And I will give him exactly what he wants.”Luo Bing’s eyes widened, alarm washing over his face. “Mr. Jiang, using yourself as bait for a Tier 1 Apex Master is suicidal! We barely survived his first probe. If he attacks full force, even Qin security won’t detect him before you’re finished. We should call for reinforcements from the martial arts alliances Elder
Chapter 15 :The Unseen Weakness
I stood over the shattered remains of the composite door, the small, dark ampoule containing the Volatile Neurotoxin B-11 clutched carefully in a forensic containment sleeve. The silence in the annex was absolute, broken only by the low hum of the System running its deep analysis. Luo Bing returned from the control room, pale but resolute, having confirmed the Master’s complete disappearance and the status of the Li Family’s financial fallout.“The Li Family is denying all knowledge of the Master, Mr. Jiang, and their security forces are publicly blaming the damage on a faulty industrial HVAC unit explosion,” Luo Bing reported, his voice tight with controlled disbelief. “They are executing a masterful cover-up, leveraging their political ties to silence the media about the Crimson Ascent crash. However, the internal damage is catastrophic. Li Cong is effectively neutralized financially, but he is protected by an invisible hand.”I didn’t look up from the ampoule. “The Li Family doesn’
Chapter 14: The Master Arrives
The name Master hung in the stale air of Madame Lin’s wretched apartment, a chilling promise of professional death. She was still weeping, clutching at her dress, body trembling, oblivious to the fact that her confession of betrayal had just handed me the single most critical piece of intelligence: the Li Family’s fear of the Shadow Heir was absolute, and their next move would be lethal, not financial.I looked at her for a long moment, letting the weight of her fear settle over the room. Then I turned, leaving her there utterly ruined but alive. She deserved no more, no less. Living in terror, knowing the destruction she helped orchestrate, was the most fitting kind of punishment.I moved quickly through the dim, narrow corridor, past peeling wallpaper and the faint smell of mold, and out into the street. The city was already alive with the fallout from the Crimson Ascent collapse. News vans and flashing lights painted the buildings in red and blue, but I didn’t look. My mind was alr
Chapter 13:The Mother’s Confession
The Qin guard stationed outside the apartment door was a silent shadow, immovable, unblinking. Luo Bing had placed him there after I tracked Madame Lin down, and I didn’t even glance at him. My eyes were on the fragile figure in the armchair, the air in the room thick with fear, stale tea, and the faint metallic tang of worry.She looked up as I entered, flinching violently, teacup rattling against its saucer. “Kai,” she whispered, a wheezing sound like it came from deep within her chest. She tried to rise, shaking, but her effort faltered. “You… you shouldn’t be here. They’ll know. They’ll know you’re here.”I closed the door behind me, the click loud in the quiet room, and stood, a statue of implacable judgment. “The time for hiding is over, Madame Lin,” I said, my voice low, calm, but absolute. “Zheng Fei is arrested. Jade Health is collateral on a defaulted 2.8 billion Yuan illicit debt. Li Cong’s power play has been destroyed on the international stage. Every single disaster that
Chapter 12: The Stock Exchange Annihilation
The secure private trading floor was silent except for the rapid clicking of keyboards and the constant hum of the massive display screens flooding the room with shifting colors. The A-City Stock Exchange feed streamed across the panels like a battlefield map. I stood beside Luo Bing, watching him work. He sat before a console packed with market analysis tools, his fingers poised like a soldier holding a trigger.Thanks to Elder Qin, we were standing inside a soundproof, underground fortress—high-speed servers, encrypted lines, hardware that belonged in a central bank, not in the hands of two men preparing to crush a financial empire. But this was our battlefield. This was where the Li Family would bleed.“Li Cong’s celebratory summit is set for 10:00 AM sharp, Mr. Jiang,” Luo Bing said, adjusting his headset. His suit was clean, pressed, but the bruises on his jaw and neck from last night’s fight with those martial artists were still visible. “He’s planning a short live address—five
Chapter 11: Lin Yue’s please and Rejection
I recognized the subtle knock the moment it tapped against the secure door of the private suite. Luo Bing had arranged the location with her usual precision, choosing a neutral suite across the city where no eyes or ears could intrude. It was already past midnight, the kind of hour when only desperation or danger makes someone brave enough to request a meeting. Lin Yue had done both. She had called me ten minutes after my icy confirmation over the phone, and her voice alone told me she was unraveling. She moved now not out of ambition, but pure terrified survival.“Let her in,” I said calmly to the Qin guard stationed outside.The guard opened the door and Lin Yue stepped into the dimly lit suite. The moment she crossed the threshold, I saw immediately that this wasn’t the polished fiancée from the ballroom disaster. Her tailored suit looked slightly wrinkled, her makeup was fading around the edges, and her usual sharp confidence had collapsed into a frantic, hollow-eyed panic. She cl
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