Chapter 322

Splash—

Beneath their feet was viscous, foul-smelling sewage, bone-chillingly cold, rising above their calves.

The inner walls of the pipe were slippery, covered in thick moss and unknown filth; every step required all their strength, or they might fall at any moment and be swept into the deeper, darker abyss.

The decaying stench in the air had nearly solidified, mixed with the pungent smell peculiar to disinfectant, making one feel dizzy.

Lin Yu half-carried Xuanyuan Qing; she was light as a feather, almost weightless, her body terrifyingly cold, with only the faint, barely detectable rise and fall of her chest proving she still had a breath of life left.

His own back felt as if it had been repeatedly branded by charcoal; every movement tugged at his nerves, waves of excruciating pain washing over his consciousness. His soaked combat suit stuck tightly to his mangled wounds, and the sewage soaking in made them feel both numb and itchy, a heart-piercing pain.

"Uncle Lin... ahead... reflection..."

Xu Xiaochuan's voice was hoarse, revealing an irrepressible exhaustion and panic. He held Lin Yu's arm tightly, his other hand clutching the blood-stained scalpel for dear life.

Following the direction of Xu Xiaochuan's finger, there was indeed a glimmer of light at the end of the pipe, accompanied by the increasingly clear, low hum of machinery running.

It was the ventilation shaft exit of an abandoned subway line.

Lin Yu stopped abruptly. Aside from the splashing water beneath their feet, a dull vibration of vehicles passing overhead reached them.

And... the sound of sirens!

Not just from one place, but approaching rapidly from different directions!

"They've blocked the surface." Lin Yu's voice was very low.

Zhou Minghui's reaction was much faster than he had imagined, and the forces he had mobilized were far more than just hospital security.

"Then... then what do we do?"

Xu Xiaochuan's body shuddered, not from the cold. It was the mark on his back, which had started to burn again in waves, accompanied by a needle-pricking pain.

An ominous premonition seized him; danger was closing in from all sides, like an invisible net.

Lin Yu didn't speak.

He merely lifted Xuanyuan Qing in his arms, trying to keep her away from the sewage as much as possible, and looked up at the severely rusted metal grilles at the top of the pipe.

That was the only exit to the surface.

A glimmer of light leaked down through the gaps in the grille, cutting stripes of light and shadow across the sewage and walls, also illuminating a slowly rotating surveillance camera with a red light on the outside of the grille.

Exposure was only a matter of time.

Just then, the screech of brakes sounded overhead, followed by the loud "clang" of a car door being violently pulled open.

"Quick! Over here!"

A deliberately lowered voice, yet exceptionally familiar, came from above the grille, the tone tight and filled with hair-on-fire urgency.

Lin Yu and Xu Xiaochuan looked up simultaneously; the grille was violently pried open from the outside, revealing a fat, oily, sweaty face.

It was the fat boss from the underground medicine market! Behind him stood his silent follower, A Gui.

"Damn it, finding you guys was a real pain!"

The fat man leaned down, waving his hands repeatedly at them below.

"What are you standing there for! The cops are about to surround the place! Get up here, quick!"

Lin Yu did not hesitate any longer.

He handed Xuanyuan Qing to Xu Xiaochuan, gritted his teeth, used his last ounce of strength to grab the edge of the grille, and flipped up.

A Gui immediately stepped forward to help, and together with Xu Xiaochuan, they carefully passed the unconscious Xuanyuan Qing up as well.

As soon as the three of them climbed out, the fat man nimbly covered the heavy grille back to its original position and dragged over a few broken tires and trash cans to block it haphazardly.

This was a remote back alley, with trash piled high like a mountain. The air was mixed with the smell of rotting food and machine oil. A dusty, gray van of indeterminate color was parked at the alley entrance, its rear doors wide open.

"Get in!"

The fat man roared, jumping into the driver's seat first, while the three of them squeezed into the van, which was filled with the smell of cheap cigarettes and sweat.

The van let out a roar, its tires screeching against the wet, slippery road, and it violently burst out of the back alley, plunging into the city's traffic.

Outside the windows, red and blue police lights flashed crazily, and the piercing sound of sirens grew from distant to near, becoming increasingly dense.

The fat man slammed the steering wheel, the van weaving through traffic, specifically diving into those narrow, old-town alleys with sparse surveillance cameras.

"Fuck, this time we really fucked up."

The fat man glanced at the back of the van through the rearview mirror while driving. Seeing the deathly pale Xuanyuan Qing and the soaked, utterly disheveled Lin Yu, the fat on his face twitched a few times.

"The hospital side is like a pack of mad dogs—uniforms, plainclothes, and a bunch of guys in black suits who clearly aren't good news—they've surrounded the area tight. Just how big of a hornet's nest did you two poke?"

Lin Yu didn't say a word; he lowered his head to check Xuanyuan Qing's condition.

Her breathing seemed a tiny bit steadier than it had been in the pipe.

"Ahead! There's a checkpoint!"

Xu Xiaochuan suddenly shouted. Through the gap in the rear window of the van, he saw the flashing police lights and roadblocks at the intersection in the distance.

The fat man cursed under his breath and slammed the accelerator to the floor. At the same time, he fumbled under his seat for a palm-sized black box and pressed a button on it hard.

Hum—

An extremely faint fluctuation spread out.

At the checkpoint ahead, the walkie-talkies in the hands of several police officers simultaneously erupted with static, and the screens of several surveillance cameras at the intersection briefly flickered with snow.

The van didn't slow down at all, like a mad bull, it barreled arrogantly toward a narrow construction passage on the side of the checkpoint! With a few bangs, it knocked over several plastic roadblocks, and amidst a chaotic chorus of shouts and even sharper sirens, the van narrowly broke through the blockade.

"Damn it, this thing has fewer uses every time, and the risk is high."

The fat man patted the black box with lingering fear, cursing.

"It's only because of the crappy wiring in this old town that the interference is even a little bit useful."

The van twisted and turned, finally driving into a more dilapidated, labyrinthine urban village, and stopped in the backyard of an unremarkable, peeling small building.

"Safe for now."

The fat man killed the engine and wiped the oily sweat from his forehead.

"This is one of my old hideouts; it's hidden deep, and no one will be able to find it for a while."

He paused, the ease on his face fading, replaced by a bit of gravity.

"However, Mr. Lin, there's one thing I have to tell you."

He pulled a pack of cigarettes, softened by sweat, from his pocket and shook one out to hand to Lin Yu. Lin Yu waved his hand, so the fat man lit it himself, took a deep drag, and exhaled a thick, murky cloud of smoke.

"The hospital incident caused too much of a stir. It's not just the authorities investigating; the Liu family of Haicheng... their noses are very sharp, and it seems they've caught the scent too. Their people... have been asking around everywhere lately, looking for a mysterious person with incredible medical skills, and a woman whose condition is very 'special'."