Chapter 59: Clinic Treatment
Liu Zhenhu is dead!
This news created quite a sensation in the underground circles of Wancheng!
The Henan Gang is a massive syndicate; how could their boss be taken out in broad daylight just like that?
Not only him, but a dozen of his underlings as well. Except for a chubby guy whose job was feeding the dogs, not a single person survived.
The Henan Gang exploded with fury!
The first to arrive at the scene was the fire brigade, followed by a swarm of thugs led by A Fa, one of the Henan Gang's top commanders.
Finally, the police arrived, and rumor has it that even the chief himself made a personal appearance.
The case was excessively heinous, involving ten human lives, firearms, and arson.
The police chief issued a critical directive: find the perpetrator at all costs!
Simultaneously, another order was handed down to suppress all information and keep it off television news to prevent a catastrophic public panic.
The city's entire police force was mobilized once again to hunt down the criminal suspects with full force.
...
The taxi driver was scared out of his wits, following Cao Yang's instructions to drive toward the suburbs.
He thought Cao Yang was going to rob him of his money or his vehicle, but Cao Yang did neither. Instead, he stripped the driver of his clothes and even handed him some cash in return.
His own garments were completely soaked in blood, making him far too conspicuous. Changing into the taxi driver's clothes, though a bit too small and ill-fitting, would at least keep him from drawing unwanted attention.
After the taxi driver departed, Cao Yang immediately flagged down another cab.
The driver asked him where he was headed.
Cao Yang told him to just keep driving.
He had no idea where to go. His wounds were still bleeding, though the driver's dark shirt managed to conceal the spreading stains.
He needed medical treatment immediately, or he would die, yet he dared not go to a hospital.
He stared blankly at the scenery outside the window, contemplating reaching out to the Lei siblings. In this city, the only people he could rely on and trust were them—especially Lei Yu, who somehow felt even more reliable than her brother Lei Dian.
Precisely for that reason, Cao Yang decided against dragging her down with him. If they were tracked down, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Stop here." Cao Yang paid the fare and stepped out of the car.
He spotted a small clinic that had just opened its doors. Walking inside, he found only a young nurse and a middle-aged doctor.
"Hello, are you here to buy medicine or see a doctor?" Noticing Cao Yang's pale complexion, the young nurse guessed he was seeking medical attention.
Without answering, Cao Yang strode straight into the inner room to check if anyone else was inside.
Both the nurse and the doctor looked at him with puzzled expressions.
"I need to see a doctor," Cao Yang said, and with a swift motion, he pulled down the metal rolling shutter.
"What are you doing? You don't need to close the door just to see a doctor!"
Cao Yang drew his pistol and aimed it directly at the nurse and the doctor.
"Treat my wounds, right now!" His face was deathly pale, his tone laced with cold impatience.
The nurse was frightened out of her wits, while the middle-aged doctor adjusted his glasses and stood up.
"Young man, please don't do anything rash."
"Tell me where it hurts."
Right in front of both of them, Cao Yang stripped off his shirt and trousers, standing before them in nothing but his underwear.
"A gunshot wound?!" The two stared in shock at the bloody holes in his abdomen and legs, then shifted their gaze to his arm, which bore two more gory punctures that looked less like bullet wounds and more like animal bites.
"Young man, this is just a small clinic; we can't handle gunshot wounds here. You really should go to a major hospital."
"Now! Immediately! Right this second! Stop my bleeding and take the bullet out, or if you utter one more piece of nonsense, I'll let you taste what a gunshot wound feels like!"
"Th-then... lie down, please." The doctor picked up a pair of tweezers and some medical supplies, nervously stepping forward to tend to Cao Yang's injuries.
"What is that?" Cao Yang demanded, eyeing the syringe in his hand.
"This is an anesthetic," the doctor answered truthfully.
"No anesthesia, take it out directly!" Cao Yang refused to be numbed; otherwise, he would be completely at their mercy.
"Young man, can you really endure this without anesthesia?"
"Cut the crap! Hurry up!"
Cao Yang's tone was intensely impatient; at a time like this, he had to project absolute ruthlessness, or they wouldn't fear him.
The doctor nodded, then worked alongside the nurse to begin treating his wounds.
As the tweezers probed deep into his flesh, every muscle in his body tightened. He clenched his teeth so hard they ached, refusing to let out so much as a single groan.
Curious, the nurse raised her head to look at him.
The moment she looked up, she found a pitch-black gun barrel pointed right at her face, causing her to instantly lower her head and frantically resume treating the wound.
An hour later, the bullet was successfully extracted, and the wounds were cleaned and stitched up.
"Young man, the bullet in your leg missed the bone, so it should be fine. But the shot in your abdomen damaged your large intestine. There is nothing I can do about that here; I could only stop the bleeding and suture the surface. You really ought to go to a major hospital afterward, or you might suffer from severe complications down the road."
Cao Yang nodded to show he understood.
The doctor then glanced at his arm and continued, "Those look like dog bites, don't they? You need to get a rabies vaccination immediately, or you could contract rabies."
"I don't have any vaccines here. Let me go to the hospital and pick up a dose for you."
As he spoke, the doctor began peeling off his white lab coat, preparing to change clothes and head out.
Before he could even get the coat off, he saw the muzzle of the gun leveled at his chest again.
"Young man, I'm only trying to help you," the doctor protested.
"Thank you, not necessary. Just stay quietly right here."
The doctor sat back down, and the nurse followed suit. The three of them simply sat in silence, neither uttering a word, creating an intensely bizarre atmosphere.
"Got anything to eat?" Cao Yang asked, feeling the hunger setting in.
The nurse handed him two packaged bread rolls, and Cao Yang took them, wolfing them down voraciously.
"Eat slowly, there's more inside," the nurse said, kindly offering him a bottle of water.
The three of them remained trapped in the clinic until evening.
During this time, the phones of both the nurse and the doctor rang repeatedly, but neither dared to answer.
Cao Yang knew that if he lingered any longer, their families would come looking for them, and his cover would inevitably be blown.
Having recovered a portion of his physical strength, he stood up and began putting on his clothes. Both of them watched him with nervous tension, terrified that he might eliminate them to tie up loose ends after using them.
Their fears were unfounded; the current Cao Yang was not someone who slaughtered the innocent indiscriminately.
"Thank you. How much do I owe?"
"I... I don't have much cash." The nurse fumbled with her wallet, pulled out a two-hundred-yuan bill, and handed it toward Cao Yang.
"I mean, how much is the medical fee?"
"Ah? No, no..."
The two of them waved their hands frantically, signaling that no payment was necessary.
The nurse, in particular, had been so high-strung that she misheard him, assuming Cao Yang was asking how much money she had on her with the intent to rob her.
Cao Yang reached into his pocket, pulled out over two thousand yuan in cash, counted out two thousand, dropped it onto the examination bed, and then pulled open the rolling shutter to depart alone.
His own funds were tied up in Li Yan's bank card, which held a couple of hundred thousand yuan. Since he had the card on his person, he wasn't short on money for the time being.
Walking through the late-night streets, the sudden blare of a police siren pierced the air. Cao Yang's muscles tensed instantly as he shifted into combat readiness.
A police car roared past him down the road. There were no such things as mere coincidences; they were simply passing by.
Cao Yang continued forward without a destination. He had no idea where he was going, and the further he walked, the more lost he felt. Only two paths lay before his future.
The first was to be captured, subjected to a trial, and fed a bullet.
The second path was to find a place to hide for a few days until the city-wide police dragnet loosened, and then flee the city.
Leaving the city might sever his entanglements with the Henan and Hunan factions, but he would likely land on the police's most-wanted list, plastering his face across reward posters on every street and alley nationwide.
If he wished to avoid capture, his only option was to escape abroad, becoming a fugitive for the rest of his days, never able to return to his homeland, never even able to see his mother off when her final day came.
Neither of these outcomes was what Cao Yang wanted.
Inadvertently lifting his gaze, he saw a brightly lit skyscraper looming ahead. Without realizing it, he had wandered all the way to the Lushan International Water Club.