There used to be a struggle here, approximately between one and two hours ago. The call from Hong should have been received around fifteen minutes ago, which means Shou is still here.

Xiao Lin stood up urgently, quickly heading to the last shop in the alley, the only place with a light on. Hanging high in the small shop that could only fit a counter was a yellow lantern with the word "shop" written on it; a strong smell of blood wafted out from within. Xiao Lin pressed the bell placed on the counter but didn't wait for someone to come out. Instead, he walked in on his own.

Along the way, there were none of the bloodstains he had imagined, nor the noisy sounds of fighting. Everything was too quiet, overly quiet in a way that unsettles the mind. It's a medical breakpoint, a turning point that words cannot easily describe. Simply put, too quiet is not good, too noisy is not good either.

Passing through the courtyard, in front was a brightly lit glass room. Xiao Lin's unsolicited arrival naturally caused disbelief among those inside, but Ye Liqing didn't show any surprise at his appearance.

"Where is Shou?" Xiao Lin ignored their glances and went directly to Ye Liqing.

At least ten cuts were on those people, wounds made by a tooth saw. These were weapons crafted by Shou himself, forged from stainless steel pieces slowly shaped with the cutter in the glass room, handles wrapped layer by layer with tape, simple yet effective.

"Gone!" Ye Liqing covered her mouth with her hand; she was laughing, endless joy in her dark eyes. After listening, Xiao Lin turned around and left. "Xiao Lin, you've earned dark recognition, we'll find Zhang Teng's recording tape for you." Ye Liqing laughed foolishly, lying sideways on the ground, bending one leg, her silk robe sliding off, exposing a large section of pale skin.

Xiao Lin walked out of the darkness without looking back and dialed Hong's number. "Has Shou returned?"

"No!"

"Call me immediately if you see him." With a cigarette burning halfway in his fingers, what would happen when one person fights against dozens? The blood on the ground could be Shou's or might belong to those people. If Shou was severely injured and fled, which route would he take to avoid these pursuers?

Hastened footsteps slowly slowed down; Xiao Lin considered and left the darkness, exiting from the most crowded area from the right side, directly entering the commercial district. Turning left, he needed to pass through an entire alley.

Xiao Lin raised his head, looking at the wall opposite; he leaped up, grasping the rocky wall, and with a forceful arm, he hung suspended on the wall, nudged his toes, and squatted on top.

The ground was pitch black; Xiao Lin never cared about what lay beyond this wall. It looked more like a parking lot; moonlight above reflected on the concrete ground, casting small reflections. Xiao Lin jumped into the open space ahead. He explored along the wall, hoping to find something. Given Shou's character, he definitely wouldn't run to a bustling district for help. Going back would be a dead end, so the likelihood of climbing over this wall was high.

The open-air parking lot was small, seemingly a specialized area for some restaurant's needs. Not far away, a dark shadow lay hosting. Xiao Lin ran over. "Shou?"

The person on the ground was unconscious. Trembling fingers placed near the nostrils, there was still a faint breath. He embraced Shou and swiftly moved to the QQ car.

"I found Shou." Xiao Lin called the Zimu brothers, prepared with necessary surgical tools, and then handed over to Hong. It took too long to get to the manor from here, and Zilin's auto shop has ready medical equipment, not very professional, but sufficient for basic sutures. "Bring the computer to the dealership; I'll be there, the tape has been acquired."

The engine roared, Xiao Lin flipped a switch for the special device, new power injected into the engine, the gear box clattered, gripping the ground as tires raced swiftly.

Xiao Lin frequently glanced at the passaged Shou beside him, covered in blood and filth, long lashes trembling, hair disheveled and sticking to his face, clothes torn into strips hanging on him, body crisscrossed with scars, old wounds replaced by new ones. He couldn't help but press the accelerator, running unbridled on the road, stopping at an auto shop in the shortest time.

"Young Master Xiao!" Zimu had already pulled up the shutter door, waiting for Xiao Lin's arrival.

"Shou's in the car; I'll change clothes and come over." Before Zimu, Zilin had already bundled Shou from the passenger seat, Zimu sat in the driver's seat, reversed the car into the shop, and pulled down the shutter, turning off the lights.

"What happened?" Zimu saw Shou's wounds; he couldn't help but clench his fists. "Who did this?" Before Zimu could erupt, Zilin gave him a big hug to calm his mood.

"Hong will be here soon." Xiao Lin put on glasses; his hands simultaneously put on special gloves. Cutting Shen's clothes with scissors. "Get some hot water and clean towels." Seeing the incomplete skin, he felt his throat tremble.

"Let me do it!" Zimu tried to help but was stopped by Xiao Lin.

"No need!" Taking the squeezed warm towel, he cleansed Shou's blood and filth. After changing the blood water to clean, again it blurred, and cleaned thoroughly to reveal the various large and small wounds.

He knew that this wasn't something made in a day, but the result of accumulated neglect over time; some had been simply treated, while others had become inflamed from carelessness.

"Without anesthesia, it will hurt a bit." As if comforting Shou, Xiao Lin brushed aside the hair on his face. After cleaning his hands thoroughly with antiseptic, he began to treat the inflamed areas, excising the infected parts and stitching up the wounds with sutures.

Tying knots! Cutting away! Tying more knots! By the time the last wound was opened, Xiao Lin's hands were already stained with blood.

This wound threatened the internal organs in the abdomen, and he used simple clamps to open it up. "Don't use too much force!" he instructed Zimu, who was assisting nearby. He started stitching on the skin surface and handled the blood vessels before finally closing up the skin.

"Do you want to sleep for a while?" Zimu packed up the tools. Hong had come into the room under Zilin's lead, and seeing Shou lying on the bed, he wanted to approach but was stopped by Zilin's hand.

Xiao Lin shook his head. "Keep this room at twenty degrees Celsius, and maintain humidity. Use a humidifier overnight if you have one." Xiao Lin said a line, and Zimu followed suit, not asking questions, only complying.

Xiao Lin raised his head and stared unblinkingly at Hong, needing to hear his explanation. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Hong's eyes reddened. He knew Shou was in danger, but he hadn't expected it to be this severe.

"Crying won't help now." Xiao Lin didn't have a blaming tone, just sighed. "I remember last time when I went to find you, what did you say? Shou was just upstairs then, did you think I couldn't smell the blood?" Xiao Lin was angry, angered at himself.

"Shou told me not to tell. He said he'd explain once everything was set in stone." Hong hung his head.

"Surprise, I am indeed surprised—in such a situation, how can I still be surprised?" The Dark Ones agreed to take on Zhang Teng's case, which Shou had traded for. "What else are you hiding from me?"

"Shou said after today, everything will be decided!" Hong truly didn't understand what that meant, and the only person who could answer lay on the bed.

"This is the tape I brought back, see if it's usable."

Hong awkwardly looked at the videotape. How could he watch it without specialized equipment? He only brought a laptop. So he looked to Zimu for help. "Is there a video player?"

"There is one, but I don't know if it works. The former garage owner liked collecting old items. We thought it was a hassle back then, so we didn't throw it away." Zilin glanced at Xiao Lin, pulled Hong's hand, and left. "I'll take you to see it, maybe it'll work."

The old machine started running under Zilin's fiddling. Hong watched the screen wide-eyed. The unedited footage clearly showed a guard entering Liu Sheng's cell, but the footage afterward was edited. "Should we call Young Master Xiao?" Hong asked Zilin, who nodded in agreement.

"Young Master Xiao, I think you'd better come and look at this yourself." Zilin's seriousness made Xiao Lin realize something was up with the tape, and he hurried into the next room.

It was footage of him with Consort Ling at the abandoned docks, showing the whole process of removing organs from a body and placing them into a frozen box. Ha, is this what you wanted to show me? What does Liu Sheng count for, while organ trafficking is the real warning you had for me? The outcome truly was different from what I imagined.

"Young Master Xiao, this isn't the master tape; it's a recorded copy."

Hong and Zimu's brother didn't know what to do. In the country, illegal human organ removal and trafficking were serious crimes, and the person in the footage was indeed their boss, with a hint of white under the camera lens.

"I think I know who that person is." Xiao Lin suddenly said, no one had understood until then. So he was that close to me, and I hadn't noticed. How did he manage playing two roles without being found out? No wonder I felt he was familiar when I first saw him; it was him.

"Hong, convert the earlier footage to a CD and send it to Wu Shuang at the City Police Department, in my name. That will suffice." Xiao Lin returned to Shou's side. The person lying there showed no sign of waking. "When I'm not here, watch him closely. Don't let him cause trouble. If he resists, just knock him out and tie him up."

"Where are you going?" Zimu blocked Xiao Lin's path.

"To finish what I've started." The door he pulled open revealed a morning sky already; a cloudy day offered no brilliant sunlight. Zimu drew down the shutter behind him, no farewell needed, no goodbyes necessary, since they would meet again in the end. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com) with your recommendation tickets and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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