So dazzling.
This was Su Chen’s first reaction upon waking up, like someone who had slept for a long time, dazed and confused, not knowing what year it was. He thought he had overslept and needed to get up quickly to patrol the streets.
His body seemed to hurt a lot.
Had he been ganged up on by Ghost Head Er from South Street? It really, really hurt.
He craved some rice porridge.
It would be even better with a bowl of braised offal. He’d have to buy it himself, otherwise Pearl would definitely taste a few bites before giving it to him... as he thought this.
Suddenly, a name emerged—
Su Ning.
A familiar yet strange name.
His brain turned laboriously, like a machine without oil, until he finally remembered: blood relative, family, cousin. His older cousin. He couldn’t recall her face, couldn’t remember anything, but it felt so joyful, so happy. Like burrowing into a big cotton quilt in winter as a child. It smelled a bit funky, and the wind howled against the window, but there was that sense of security as he fell asleep.
Once the first glimmer of struggling light broke through, more and more followed.
Then, memories quickly came flooding back.
He remembered.
Why that name felt unfamiliar: because others were always the ones saying it.
He was different.
He could call her “Cousin,” “Big Sister.”
In an instant.
Su Chen gasped heavily, feeling the sore, powerless ache all over his body. The worst, the heaviest, was somewhere in his abdomen, as if someone had stabbed him—oh, it seemed he had really been stabbed.
Someone in white clothes shouted in surprise.
Then more people in white clothes came, old and young, Western and traditional styles.
They seemed to be calling him.
And talking amongst themselves.
Su Chen paid them no attention at all. He just breathed—greedily, uncontrollably, like someone struggling to wake from a nightmare under a suffocating blanket.
“Patient, patient, how are you feeling now... Answer the question.”
“Damn, could the fever have lasted so long that something’s wrong?”
As for what was wrong, prolonged fevers could easily leave a person mentally impaired. The speaking doctor had seen many such cases, so he muttered instinctively. Then he noticed his colleagues’ faces turning strange and felt a heavy gaze on his back.
In an instant.
His scalp tingled.
When he saw who the gaze belonged to, he unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief—thankfully, it wasn’t Miss Su.
Then he held that breath again.
It was Miss Su’s younger sister.
This one was also terrifying!
The young girl gave him a dark look, but she didn’t actually lose her temper or cause a scene. She walked steadily toward the sickbed. The speaking doctor, besides feeling relieved, silently reminded himself to be more careful with his words in the future. The patient’s family was already worried sick.
“Bro, I heard you went stupid from the fever. Look—how many fingers is this?”
She waved her hand past him quickly.
The doctors: ...
“You’re the one who’s stupid. Three... looked like two, but you pulled a trick. I taught you that.”
Su Chen’s eyes suddenly focused, and he mustered the strength to roll his eyes at his sister.
“Oh, so you’re not stupid after all.”
Hey, what’s with that hint of disappointment in your voice!
“I was hoping to see if a fever-stupid person would go ‘abba abba’ and drool like that natural idiot at the street corner. Guess not.”
“You can just look in the mirror and see one for yourself.”
The siblings traded barbs, each more vicious than the last, leaving everyone else in the room stunned. They all looked at Half-Immortal Su beside them, who watched with a smile, his expression... one of relief.
What’s there to be relieved about?
Of course.
This proved that his son hadn't been burned stupid or dull-witted—he could still hold his own in a "quarrel" with his little sister. Half-Immortal Su felt immensely relieved, to be honest. He had actually considered the possibility of brain damage from the fever.
After all, snatching a life back from the King of Hell.
It would be normal to pay some price.
Who would have thought... it was truly magical medicine. Thinking this, Half-Immortal Su said:
"Never mind burned stupid, if not for your cousin, I'd be finding a feng shui burial site for you, kid. You didn't believe your old man was a divine fortune-teller before. See? If you don't listen to your elders, trouble is right at your doorstep."
"By the way, where's your cousin?"
They spoke at the same time.
Su Chen felt a warmth in his heart.
Sure enough, it was his cousin who had saved him. The feeling of being on the brink of death was truly unbearable. Even now, it hurt, but the pain was sharp and real—telling him he was still alive in this world, still able to struggle on.
Living felt so good.
"No matter what, I owe my cousin a life," he said sincerely.
He had always thought highly of himself.
So his life was worth a lot.
"Since you know that, be more careful from now on," a cold female voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice.
It was Su Ning.
Watching Su Chen struggle to sit up in the hospital bed, she felt a hint of emotion. This vitality—though unlucky enough to easily die, once he came back to life, he bounced back like a cockroach, full of energy again.
She waved her hand.
Someone cleared the room, and soon only their own people remained.
"A man of worth doesn't put himself in harm's way."
Su Ning smirked with scorn, "Do you still think you're just some nobody from the streets with a cheap life that doesn't matter if you die? You go wherever you're told to? Self-disrespect, degrading yourself. If you act this clueless again, don't tell anyone you're my cousin."
"You embarrass me."
On the hospital bed.
Su Chen's face turned as pale as the blanket covering him. With his features now sharper after losing weight, he had a certain wilting, desolate air—like a leaf falling in autumn. The doctor kept in the room just in case felt a stir of sympathy.
Wasn't that too harsh?
"I'm sorry. I promise this will never happen again."
Hearing this,
The doctor sighed inwardly, noticing that Su Ning actually looked disappointed and let out a bored "tsk"... Really, what was there to be disappointed about?
Hah.
Pulled randomly but couldn't squeeze out a single bit of reward—no wonder she was disappointed, the system thought.
Then it looked at Su Chen, who looked like a rain-soaked white bird on the bed, and rolled its eyes. Pretending, still pretending. It could see at a glance that not only was he not hurt emotionally, he was probably secretly happy and smug.
Whatever twisted, perverse thoughts he harbored, it couldn't be bothered to guess.
Anyway.
It swore to itself—next time, it would never bind a host with the surname Su!
On that side.
From his family's explanations, Su Chen learned how much effort Su Ning had put into saving him. Not to mention anything else, just the fuel cost for the plane alone would have been enough to mold a man out of solid gold.
Let alone the "miracle medicine" that truly saved his life.
As the saying goes.
A great favor can feel like a great debt.
Ordinary people would feel grateful but also pressured by the heavy burden of repayment. But Su Chen was different. He just felt very happy, his voice light and cheerful even when thanking her.
"Mm."
Su Ning nodded casually:
"Don't thank me too much. That medicine hasn't been through human testing yet. I treated it as a last resort. Call it your luck—you just happened to provide some experimental data."
"By the way, let me ask you—do you think this was an accident or someone's design?"
Her tone turned chilling.
The doctor held his breath, too nervous to even exhale. If this wasn’t an accident, countless people in Beiping might lose their lives.
Every second felt like an eternity.
“It should be an accident,” Su Chen said after a moment, reaching a conclusion. That official sent by Nanjing was arrogant and greedy but lacked real skill. The men he’d rallied were young and strong enough, but obviously not bright—they actually believed that as long as they followed him, they were untouchable.
In this line of work, you didn’t fear the wily old hands.
It was the reckless greenhorns, the ones desperate to claim credit, that gave you trouble.
Sure enough.
Had they been fencing with words, haggling back and forth?
But then a knife came slashing without warning.
Remembering how close he’d come to dying, Su Chen’s eyes burned with murderous rage.
“Do you want revenge?”
“Yes.”
Su Chen nodded with a faint smile. “I’m only alive because my cousin built up merit on my behalf. So of course, I can’t let things get too far out of hand. An eye for an eye—let’s just use the knife that stabbed me to give the one who struck a cut of his own. Maybe, with luck, he’ll survive too.”
Ancestral graves would have to produce an awful lot of green smoke for that to happen.
The doctor shook his head.
He’d seen the knife—covered in rust, with blood and mud smeared all over.
An absolute infection machine.
Unless someone could also shell out for two shots of that priceless “miracle drug,” it would only be a matter of days for that man.
Half-Immortal Su clicked his tongue. He thought that letting the bastard off so lightly was too generous, but what his son said made sense. His big niece had spent so much money and supplies for the sake of good karma; they couldn’t throw that away.
Su Zhenzhu, meanwhile, was mulling over contingency plans: in case the attacker somehow got lucky and avoided infection, she wondered whether she should “rework” the knife a little.
Without exception, they had all unconsciously failed to consider the other “culprit.”
No matter—Su Ning thought of it for them.
“Sure, but what about the one really behind all this? Have you figured out how to get back at him?”
The Su family was taken aback.
Just then, the hospital door opened again, and Assistant Lin entered, his voice carrying a polished tone:
“Young Lady, the person has been cleaned and disinfected.”
Su Ning naturally gave him an approving glance.
Thorough thinking.
After barely scraping through the penicillin allergy test, Su Chen probably had used up all his luck. Dying from a secondary infection would have been the joke end.
Lin Sen’s thought: He simply considered penicillin precious and scarce, and since the young lady was indulgent with her family, the only way to prevent waste was for him to cut it off at the source.
Person—what person?
Su Chen clutched his blanket, took a deep breath, then was jolted back to reality by a blustering voice—
“You bastards, how dare you kidnap me from Nanjing to this place?” someone snarled. “Do you have any idea who I am? By now, plenty of people must’ve noticed I’m missing. Su Ning, Miss Su, I advise you not to act rashly. Let me go, and we can apologize and still be friends. Otherwise, the consequences are not something a mere merchant can handle.”
The doorway wasn’t wide.
Lin Sen stepped aside at the right moment, revealing the bound figure behind him.
To be honest.
Su Chen almost didn’t recognize the bloated, disheveled white lump—his face and body crisscrossed with red scratches—as the imposing official who’d originally put on such a pompous air.
Well.
There was no way around it.
After all, who could endure a thorough scrubbing with a bamboo brush… followed by rubbing with alcohol… Not the brightest experience around.
“Cousin…”
Su Ning lowered her gaze, meeting the eyes of the man in the hospital bed.
She deliberately repeated herself: “So, have you made up your mind?”
Su Chen noticed his hands shaking, but he didn’t care. A huge, brilliant smile spread across his face, and he nodded emphatically:
“Yes.”
At that moment, the man who had been dragged in finally realized something was wrong and stared wide-eyed.
He swallowed hard and forced a smile:
“You need to calm down, Miss Su. You must have investigated this too—this was just an accident, a pure accident. I had no ill intent toward your cousin. No one wanted things to turn out this way. When your cousin was injured, I rushed him to the hospital immediately and even covered the medical bills. And I didn’t shield the one who struck him.”
“Should I thank you, then?”
Su Ning chuckled.
She looked down at the man with amusement and nodded. “I believe it was an accident. You wouldn’t dare lay a hand on my cousin on purpose. After all, in the half month since you arrived in Beiping, even though you’ve pocketed a lot of money under the guise of hunting Communists, you’ve had the sense to know your limits. The ones you bankrupted or got killed were families with money but no connections.”
Some things could be done but not discussed aloud.
The man’s face turned the color of pig liver. Suppressing his anger, he bit down and admitted:
“Fine. Since you know that, you should understand this money isn’t going into just my pocket. There are people above me. So it’s not that I was targeting your cousin—it’s something I had no choice but to do. Who would’ve guessed this would happen? What are you getting at, Miss Su?”
He paused.
Then, unable to hold it in, he added sarcastically: “Or are you standing up for those who didn’t know how to play along?”
The mockery was clear.
Everyone knew Su Ning’s reputation. The room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop. A flicker of regret crossed his face, and he considered saying something to smooth things over.
But he didn’t get the chance.
“Exactly,” Su Ning said with a nod, giving him a surprised look. “Good eye. Guys like you—falsely accusing people for money, treating lives like nothing—deserve to be punished. I’m from Beiping. Seeing you ruin this place, how could I stand by and do nothing?”
???
Everyone in the room looked baffled.
“Bullshit!” The man let out a scornful laugh. “That sounds nice, but do you really think Nanjing will believe it? You’re clearly just getting revenge for your cousin.”
Su Chen silently quirked the corner of his lips.
Here,
Su Ning confirmed with the system that ten thousand dollars had arrived. She was done wasting time. NPCs had no value, and a fully drained NPC was even less useful than squeezed sugarcane pulp.
She left the man behind.
She waved her sleeve cleanly, not taking a single speck of dust with her.
As the door closed,
she could still hear his frantic, furious shouting. Then it vanished completely. Without even blinking, Su Ning turned to Lin Sen and asked:
“Didn’t this guy have a bunch of people locked up in Beiping?”
Assistant Lin understood instantly. “Yes. They were lucky—they were supposed to have been transferred elsewhere or executed on the spot, but…”
No need to say more.
Once Su Chen fell, this man had hightailed it back to Nanjing and abandoned everything. They were still stuck there.
“Let them all go,” Su Ning said casually. “How could anyone arrested by a scumbag like that be a real Communist?”
“Understood.”
After walking a few steps,
it suddenly struck Su Ning: Those so-called “suspected Communists” had gotten lucky, which meant Su Chen had been unlucky. Well… so be it.
…
The hospital was swarming with Su Ning’s people.
It was impenetrable. Outsiders, afraid to court trouble, dared not pry. But when they saw the Su family and Su Ning head to the hospital in the evening and not come out,
everyone thought roughly the same thing—
“That Su Chen… is he dead?”
Little Zhao said bitterly.
The others didn’t look too happy either. They exchanged uneasy glances, sighed, and then, as if by some unspoken agreement, all lifted their heads to look at the shopkeeper seated at the head of the table.
“If that person actually dies, Su Ning will never let this go quietly.”
“Yeah, I have to say, I’ve really seen it all now. In a city like Peking, where hidden dragons and crouching tigers are everywhere, she still manages to have her way. She can even shut down an opium den just like that. No wonder some call her the ‘King of Peking’ behind her back. A veritable uncrowned monarch.”
“Why are we wasting time on idle chatter? The important thing is that we’ve got to act fast, before Su Ning remembers the people still in jail.”
If we don’t, they’ll die!
It was then that the shopkeeper finally spoke: “You’re not wrong, but over the past few days, we’ve tried pulling strings and finding people. No one’s taken the bait, and we nearly blew our cover. That avenue is dead in the water.”
Funny thing was, if this had happened anywhere else and their identities hadn’t been exposed, it would have been a simple matter.
Just slip some money under the table, and it’d be settled.
Peking wasn’t all that different either.
But once the name “Su” got involved, everything became impossibly difficult.
“So what do we do?” someone asked.
The shopkeeper’s expression turned grim. “Comrade Tang is important. We can’t give up on him. If there’s no other choice, we might have to risk a prison break. If we catch them off guard, it just might work.”
But the price would be total exposure.
All their cover identities would be burned, and it could even bring down others with them.
The room fell into a heavy silence.
Then, suddenly, there was a commotion outside the door. Footsteps—chaotic and hurried—clearly from more than one person.
Everyone’s face changed color.
This place was well hidden. No one knew about it unless they were trusted. More importantly, they would never all gather here unless absolutely necessary.
Were they discovered?
They moved fast. Some grabbed guns and positioned themselves behind the door, others took posts by the windows, ready to break out. The shopkeeper cleared his throat twice, trying to test the waters.
“Who is it—”
Bang.
The door was shoved open.
Leading the way was none other than Tang Er, his clothes in tatters, filthy and reeking. He actually looked almost decent compared to the ones behind him—several people so emaciated they barely looked human, walking skeletons.
The shopkeeper took a closer look and was stunned. These were comrades who had been captured earlier.
“Quick, do you have any food? Anything at all! We’re starving to death here.”
The “skeletons” wolfed down whatever they could find.
Once they’d finished everything scavenged from the place, the shopkeeper asked cautiously, “Weren’t you all arrested? How did you get out? And why were you with Tang Er?”
He had to make sure.
What if they’d turned coat? The others didn’t let their guard down either.
They appeared relaxed, but their hands never left their guns, ready to strike at the first sign of trouble.
“It’s a long story,” Tang Er said, his expression complicated. “But I’ll make it short: Su Chen is alive. His cousin Su Ning has declared a general amnesty.”
