Chapter 219: Saving a Person

That person looked flustered, as if having some urgent matter; when getting off the vehicle, they almost knocked over an elderly lady, and despite being scolded by a few young people nearby, they had no mind to pay attention, just went their own way, quickly leaving the platform.

Zheng Tan followed closely behind, he thought, if he could see Xiao Jiu, perhaps this was the last chance to help her; missing this opportunity, he might never see her again.

Since he often wandered around this area, Zheng Tan also had some understanding of the surrounding layout, especially places already demolished or slated for demolition. The direction the person ahead was heading was a private residential area, which had not been included in the demolition zone; at least for the past few years, this area would not be touched.

Although there was no construction site nearby, the road was being repaired here, and the incessant 'clang-clang' noise during daytime annoyed people. Besides the noise, there was air pollution; residents going out around wore masks and hats, hurrying back and forth, afraid to linger.

Zheng Tan watched that person pull out a tissue to cover their nose, quickly walk up to a building, take out a key, and open the door.

Live here?

Zheng Tan looked around, didn't see that Santana; he guessed the car wasn't parked here or had already been dealt with, otherwise that person wouldn't be squeezing onto the bus.

Looking around, the anti-theft windows were installed quite well, too tight for Zheng Tan to squeeze through. He wanted to find the kitchen, walked around but couldn't find it. However, Zheng Tan found the toilet on the first floor.

How many times has this been sneaking into a toilet?

Zheng Tan sighed inwardly.

Outside one could smell the stench; I don't know how long these people have neglected the toilet, probably filthy inside. But for that girl, Zheng Tan decided to endure it for now.

The toilet wasn't the window type; it only had a ventilation fan, showing signs of having been remodeled—probably it used to be a window, later changed to this ventilation fan; do the residents here think a ventilation fan can better keep people out?

But even if it could keep people out, it couldn't keep out a cat.

Zheng Tan jumped up, then squeezed through between the fan blades. Squeezing through a ventilation fan like this wasn't the first time he'd done it. Zheng Tan did it skillfully, but the fan blades were filthy, and Zheng Tan got a layer of dust on his body.

He looked inside the toilet. Indeed it was very messy. Several spots on the tiled floor were worn bare. There were also some yellow stains of unknown origin, which made Zheng Tan, who had a bit of a cleanliness obsession… cat, irritably twitch his ears.

Forget it. Just endure it.

He shook off the dust on his body, Zheng Tan walked toward the toilet door. The toilet door was merely ajar; Zheng Tan listened to the movement outside, three people were chatting, but the toilet here was too smelly, staying there made Zheng Tan uncomfortable; he looked, saw no one outside the door, and tiptoed out.

Between the toilet and the living room there was a staircase, with some miscellaneous items piled up behind it; Zheng Tan hid behind the staircase, he was originally black, the lighting here was also poor, just miscellaneous items, even if someone passed by it would be hard to notice.

From here he couldn't see the people in the living room; Zheng Tan could only listen to the sounds.

The air was thick with smoke, the living room filled with lingering haze; listening to the sounds, Zheng Tan knew that one of them was She Tou.

However, from their conversation and tone, it could be inferred that She Tou and his companions were not in a good mood. The reason for this was that recently someone had reported a gang trading in human organs, which implicated She Tou and his group. Although She Tou had nothing to do with that gang, this incident escalated too much, interfering with some of the transactions of She Tou and his few associates.

Organ trafficking?!

These people actually engage in organ trafficking!

Zheng Tan was shocked. No wonder he always felt that She Tou's gaze when looking at people carried something strange.

From the conversation of these three, Zheng Tan could infer some things.

She Tou and his associates belonged to organ donor intermediaries; they would purchase, through some channels, the kidneys of individuals whose blood type matched the buyer's requirements; after taking on some orders, they would contact the donor side, promise a certain amount, and once the donor had undergone a physical examination and tissue typing, they would prepare for surgery.

Whether one has money is one thing; having money but not being able to promptly find a matching organ is another major problem. Therefore, more and more people are contacting intermediaries like She Tou and his ilk; as long as they can obtain a matching organ, they don't care how many underhanded and despicable dealings are involved.

Zheng Tan, who had also heard something about organ selling, had seen news about people selling livers and kidneys; hearing the tone of She Tou and his people and certain similar underworld slang, Zheng Tan felt that for money, this group was very likely to resort to tough measures.

The matter that She Tou and his companions were worried about this time was that a certain organ-trading gang had swindled the organ donor side out of a sum of money, and even during the removal surgery they had cut extra; after the donor side found out, they kicked up a fuss—no one expected them to be so bold, attracting not only police but also a lot of media; consequently, for She Tou and his group, the wind had tightened.

Later they also talked about Xiao Jiu; finding Xiao Jiu wasn't for organs, but for a certain order they had taken. Someone had offered two million to find five people with AB-type Rh-negative blood, preferably children, to buy back and raise to create a private blood bank; last year a blood contamination incident had made this buyer compassionate, and compared to that, he trusted more the blood he raised himself, at least safe and guaranteed; besides, they weren't short of that money.

Five people for two million; even if only one meeting the conditions could be found, that would net four hundred thousand—this was a huge temptation for She Tou and his associates, but the buyer put forward many demands, finally adding 'the blood type must be an exact match and absolutely healthy,' otherwise the buyer wouldn't purchase.

Nowadays many families have only one child, doted on greatly; they wouldn't even let the child donate blood, let alone sell it. That's why She Tou and his associates go to some towns and even more remote places to search, where families with several children are more common.

After completing several organ trades in Chu Hua Shi, they went around a few neighboring counties for a week, searching through some channels and connections; after a week of searching, only Xiao Jiu barely met the conditions; as for Xiao Jiu's two sisters who hadn't yet been sold, one didn't fully match the blood type, the other had a slight physical ailment, and the only brother would absolutely not be sold, so they could only choose Xiao Jiu. Xiao Jiu's shortcoming was that this child was too thin—'sale appearance' poor. So these people originally planned to first properly raise Xiao Jiu for a period, wait until the sale appearance improved, then send him to the buyer.

"You guys, should we develop this blood-related business later?" She Tou asked.

Before, they had also engaged in human trafficking, but after a nationwide crackdown operation they paused for a while; later they heard organ trafficking was profitable and took up this line, and this order they took made them realize there were also many 'business opportunities' in this field. Taking advantage of the fact that these aspects haven't yet been given much attention by many people. Taking advantage of the blood donation center not having stockpiled much 'rare blood type' blood. They could squeeze out a few more gains; even if the profit was far less than this order, they'd take whatever extra they could get, and they wouldn't complain about having too much money.

Zheng Tan, listening to their conversation from behind the staircase, was so angry he wanted to kick something. But he was currently eavesdropping; he couldn't make a commotion. Any anger he could only suppress.

If Xiao Jiu were really sold by these people, even if he had food and drink, he would lack freedom; he would need regular blood draws, becoming a human-shaped 'blood bag,' and it's unknown whether this would affect his lifespan.

They were chatting when a call came in; presumably someone was informing them of the situation's development.

"Just in case, we should leave early. Let's go today!" She Tou made a snap decision, "Don't forget whose turf we're on; if they find out we've been warned once and still dare to do business here…"

"Mm, She Tou is right; we'll leave tonight! I'll go get the vehicle." Another person said.

"Then I'll first go to the clinic to change my medicine, and on the way buy some snacks for the road." She Tou extinguished the cigarette butt in the ashtray, stood up, took a deep breath, and said to the person going out to get the vehicle: "Be careful; I always have a bad feeling."

The person at the door, hearing this, glared and said, "You'd better look after yourself; don't get bitten by a dog again—if your arm gets bitten like that again, it'll probably be completely ruined."

She Tou frowned; talking about dogs annoyed him, and he didn't like things beyond his control; those two 'encountering evil' incidents had always been a thorn in She Tou's heart, but he had never found a convincing explanation.

"Lian Dao, you also keep an eye on things above." She Tou said to the person who had just returned.

"I know, what can that little kid do? Everything around is locked up tight, and no one knows we're here." Lian Dao said, "Take a shower to relax; after running all day I'm dead tired; today at the hospital side, a person undergoing a temporary check almost caused trouble."

Since the organ donor side was also voluntary, they didn't want to be discovered either; when they saw some commotion at the hospital side, they felt afraid; during the examination, the doctor asked a few questions, that person was too nervous, and beforehand Lian Dao had told him the correct responses, but he stumbled over them; fortunately the doctor didn't probe further. Lian Dao now thinking back feels angry.

After She Tou and that person had left, the person nicknamed Lian Dao prepared to go take a shower to relax, then sleep, and at night still had to drive a night vehicle.

Zheng Tan hid behind the staircase and watched Lian Dao walk to the position of the kitchen; originally the kitchen's location had been remodeled into a bathroom, no wonder when he'd looked outside earlier he couldn't find the kitchen window nor see any cooking fumes—they had all been sealed off.

After that person went in, Zheng Tan first looked around this floor, saw no room capable of holding a person, and then ran upstairs.

On the second floor there were three rooms, two open; Zheng Tan sniffed at the door of the tightly closed one—that little girl should be locked inside.

He tried jiggling the lock, no response; it was locked. He thought those people wouldn't let Xiao Jiu move freely either.

The gap under this door was too small, not even a cat's paw could fit in; Zheng Tan wanted to greet the person inside but couldn't. Moreover, this door looked very sturdy; with Zheng Tan's abilities, even kicking and breaking his leg wouldn't open it. If Er Mao were here, it would be great—he could pry it open in less than half a minute.

Key?

Zheng Tan searched a few rooms, didn't see it, then ran downstairs.

Keys—these people probably all carry them on their person.

'Lian Dao' when he went in to shower, his outer clothing was left in the room.

Zheng Tan searched the Lian Dao's suit that still looked worth some money, found a bunch of keys. Obviously Lian Dao thought no one would come in to steal the keys; if it were She Tou, given his caution, he would probably just take the keys into the shower.

Suddenly thinking of something, he looked around, saw no cameras or the like, then Zheng Tan directly held the keys with his two front paws to prevent them from making noise as he ran; then Zheng Tan ran upstairs on his two legs.

Accustomed to climbing with four limbs, using just two legs to climb the stairs still felt a bit awkward. (To be continued...)

ps: (4.8)