This was good news.
Su Ning rushed back to the hospital and went through another round of disinfection. Half-Immortal Su and Su Zhenzhu were blocking the bedside tightly. When she stepped closer to look, the person on the bed had his eyes half-open.
His face was flushed from the fever.
He was muttering something unintelligible. Half-Immortal Su clutched his son’s hand tightly, trembling, shaking so much that he didn’t even notice Su Ning’s arrival.
“How is he?”
she asked.
The doctor beside her shook his head with a grave expression. Su Ning understood. At that moment, Su Chen turned his head as if he had seen her. His eyes widened significantly, and he struggled to force out words:
“Cousin… you, you’re back.”
“Don’t rush. Take your time.”
Su Ning’s voice was steady. She took Half-Immortal Su’s place, looking down at this “cousin,” trying to catch what he wanted to say. Then his hand grabbed hers.
His skin was scorching hot, his grip fierce.
Like a lump of burning coal.
Su Ning didn’t pull away. Instead, she held his hand back.
Then,
the strength in his hand gave way. The owner of the hand tried to speak in broken fragments. The doctor also leaned in curiously to listen, wondering what he would say—
“Save… save me. I don’t want to die.”
Su Chen—whose face was considered quite handsome—was now twisted, bearing a bone-deep obsession and will to survive. It was far from pleasant to look at.
“I want to live.”
“Live!”
Death was too terrifying.
It felt like falling into a very, very long abyss. You can’t see anything, feel anything. You want to struggle, but there’s nothing to hold onto.
Su Chen was good-looking and relatively quiet, so people often mistakenly thought he was indifferent to fame and fortune.
But he wasn’t.
As a child,
he wanted to eat his fill, wanted meat, wanted new clothes. As he grew older, his desires went further. He wanted more—mountain and sea delicacies, fine silks, luxury, and for everyone to fear and revere him.
Of course, that was hard.
But if you don’t fight or compete, how do you know you can’t achieve it?
Now he had gotten everything he wanted.
Shouldn’t he be satisfied?
No, absolutely not!
So how could he be willing—willing to die so soon?
“I will do my best to save you.”
Su Ning didn’t flinch. She met Su Chen’s eyes directly. “The best doctors, the best medical equipment. But even then, you might still die. So the rest depends on you—whether you want to live. If you want to live, struggle. Maybe Heaven will be moved and spare your life.”
The moment her words ended—
“Ding. Detecting that the host is ruthless in wealth…”
“Ding. Detecting…”
“Ding…”
“…”
Reward notifications flooded her mind like a screen refresh. The system screamed in her brain, but Su Ning didn’t even blink. Gradually, the violent emotions in Su Chen’s eyes faded into calm. He said hoarsely:
“Alright.”
“Cousin, I like liveliness.”
“Mm.”
“So, if I don’t make it, my funeral has to be big and lively. Lots of people coming. Let Dad hold a proper ceremony for me, pick a good feng shui spot for the coffin, bless me to be reborn into a rich family in the next life—have everything I want, endless luxury and honor. After all, I haven’t had enough of this life…”
His voice grew softer.
Meanwhile, Half-Immortal Su’s sobs grew louder beside him.
“I promise you everything.”
Even though the man had already fallen unconscious again, Su Ning nodded seriously. After a moment’s thought, she added, “And those who harmed you will all be buried with you.”
With that, she finally let go.
Su Ning assigned tasks to the other two members of the Su family. Half-Immortal Su was to use his expertise—prayers and mysticism. As for Zhenzhu, she was to investigate the matter from start to finish, finding out exactly what happened.
“…An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You wouldn’t want anyone to get away, would you?”
Su Zhenzhu paused.
Her spirit visibly recovered.
…
“Host, are you okay?”
the Unscrupulous in Wealth system asked cautiously.
“I’m fine.”
Su Ning sounded puzzled. “Why are you asking? Don’t you know the Su family and I aren’t blood-related?”
She shifted tone:
“Of course, after spending so much time together, I do worry. But worrying alone won’t cure him. Honestly, the Su family always manage to help me in various ways. I was just anxious about being too closely tied to the Nanjing faction—this is a perfect chance to cut ties and align with another party…”
The system: …
It had overestimated their moral standards.
She was really quite ruthless.
“So, back then—did you say that on purpose to drain his reward pool before he died?”
“How could you think that?”
Su Ning was “shocked,” pretending to be hurt. “Is this how you see me? So vicious, unscrupulous, without a shred of humanity? This saddens me deeply.”
Otherwise…?
“You don’t understand the Su family’s nature. Su Chen is just unwilling to die. Even if I promised I could save him, he wouldn’t believe me. What he really wanted to hear was those seemingly cold but truthful words I said.”
Su Ning thought for a moment and corrected the system:
“Also, Su Chen didn’t generate those rewards because he hated me.”
“Then what was it?”
It was complicated. His unwillingness to die, his fear of death, his hatred for the murderer, his attachment to his family… A lot of things, really.
It was precisely because he trusted her.
Trusted every word she said. Trusted that he really might die.
That these emotions arose.
She was really grateful for the system’s idiotic reward-judging mechanism. The result was—
Su Ning got the rewards.
“So, host, will you save him?” A cold fact was: if Su Chen died, he would “maximize his value.” With the loss of a loved one, Su Ning would have ample reason to turn against the Nanjing government. The other party would also believe her sincerity.
Public opinion would also lean in her favor.
All in all, many benefits.
“Save him.”
Su Ning answered without hesitation. Those benefits were just icing on the cake.
Ridiculous. What was her persona?
She needed insufficient reason, to appear unreasonably aggressive and bad-tempered, as if she had ulterior motives.
As for making the other party suspicious—even better. Though it was hard to be doubted by those she truly intended to support, Su Ning was strong enough to endure it. In the end, it would all become nourishment, adding to the balance of her account.
“But I have to wait a little.”
“Why?”
“To cure Su Chen, the medicine needed—I checked the shop, and it isn’t provided. The impact is too great; can’t get it directly. The only way is to rely on lucky draws.”
“But the Su family’s luck…”
Su Ning spread her hands helplessly. “Even with the blessing of a child of destiny like me, it’s still dicey. So I have to let Half-Immortal Su do his mystical thing.”
“Oh.”
The system didn’t ask what would happen if luck was still bad.
Then he’d die.
…
Su Ning had returned.
The news instantly swept through all of Beiping, like a stone thrown into a pond, stirring up ripples. Those who probed for information and learned she had gone straight to the hospital were even more terrified—
Afraid those ripples would turn into towering waves, drowning them innocent bystanders.
“How is he?”
“Alas, life, aging, sickness, and death cannot be stopped by human power. What do you think?”
“I heard that Su Chen’s own father has even invited spirit mediums to perform rituals—every fortune-teller, shaman, and sorceress worth their salt in all of Beiping has shown up… If you ask me, that’s just clutching at straws, and he might even invite bad luck.”
“Looks like the guy’s on his last legs.”
“That’s how it is—every person only has so much good fortune in a lifetime. Take Su Chen, for instance: a tiny little wound that leaves everyone else fine is about to kill him.”
Some people were even gloating.
“Serves him right. The way I see it, it’s because Su Ning has done so many terrible things in her life and never accumulated any good karma—now her cousin has to pay the price!”
“Hope she learns her lesson and starts being a decent person from now on.”
“Otherwise, sooner or later, it’ll be her turn.”
