??250: Chapter 250: The Seventh Doctor
250: Chapter 250: The Seventh Doctor
“Are your family mbers doing all right?” Professor Lin asked tentatively.
“My elder brother is dead,” Xu Huo said coldly.
“Killed by a gunshot.
But now I’m a bit unsure what’s real and what’s fake.
In my mory, he was killed by soone else, but mories could also be wrong, just like how you all rember Seventeenth Hospital, but there’s no record of that hospital at all.”
“Maybe the person who I rember killing my brother is fictional.”
Professor Lin’s facial expression gradually stiffened, and finally, tears flowed, and he choked up, “Ordinary people may confuse imagination with reality, but you’re not an ordinary person…”
Xu Huo just looked at him for quite a while before asking again, “Which doctor took
to the hospital at that ti?”
Professor Lin quickly pointed out the female doctor standing to his left in the photo, “Her son ca to see
a couple of years ago, but her condition isn’t very good.”
As he spoke, he cautiously glanced at Xu Huo, “She has Alzheir’s disease, and occasionally she suddenly ntions things about working at the hospital, which is why her son ca to see .”
Xu Huo’s face remained grim without a word, and Professor Lin wrote down an address, “That’s all I can do.”
“Thanks,” Xu Huo said as he took the address, preparing to leave.
Just then, the old lady ca out from the kitchen, “Have a al before you go.”
Professor Lin hastily gestured to the old lady, but she gave him a glare, “What’s the matter with you?
How can you let the kid leave without eating?”
Xu Huo looked back, and Professor Lin imdiately put on a full-faced smile, “Right, right, stay for a quick al.”
And so, Xu Huo really did stay.
The old couple wasn’t well off financially, and they only bought cheap vegetables that were enough to stave off hunger, with no at or fish.
“Eat more,” the old lady said affectionately, adding vegetables to Xu Huo’s bowl, “We don’t have much at ho, please make do.
I still have a little bit of private money, you can take it to buy so food.”
Xu Huo turned to look at Professor Lin who gave a wry smile, “Being old makes it easy to be tricked.
The usurious loan wasn’t our debt, soone scamd my wife’s identification…”
And so, anything of value in the house had been taken away, and still, debt collectors would co knocking from ti to ti.
“Bang!
Bang!
Bang!” While he was speaking, soone started banging on the door forcefully, “Professor Lin, please be so kind to open the door!”
The old lady jumped up with the bowl in hand, “Those damn brats, I’ll smash them!”
Professor Lin quickly stopped her, “Don’t throw it, don’t throw it, it’s five yuan each!
Just pretend we’re not ho!”
The last sentence was directed at Xu Huo, but Xu Huo had already stepped forward and opened the door.
A few young guys were standing outside, hands still raised, taken aback for a mont before saying, “Are you Professor Lin’s relative?”
“He’s not,” Professor Lin interjected.
“Just go away, there really is nothing of value left in our house.
Go find Zhang Dong, the money was borrowed by him, it has nothing to do with us.”
The young guy with yellow hair said helplessly, “Professor Lin, you know our predicant.
If we could find Zhang Dong, we wouldn’t co to you.
Can you tell us where he is?”
“We don’t know!” the old lady exclaid in agitation, “Go to the police!
Report him to the police and catch him!”
“Old lady, that’s not how you talk.
How can we bother the police officers with anything?
We’ll stick to the old routine.
We’ll wait here, you make the call, and in two hours after it’s done, we’ll leave.
Let’s not get worked up, okay?” the young guy with yellow hair said, trying to push past Xu Huo into the house.
Xu Huo pressed down on his shoulder, and the young man with yellow hair yelled as he knelt on the ground; the two outside saw this and imdiately swung their fists, but Xu Huo slapped them away, giving each one a smack and following them inside the door.
“Collecting debts by making trouble for two old people instead of the debtor himself, have you got nothing better to do?” Xu Huo sat on a low stool while the three young n squatted in front of him, clutching their heads.
The one with yellow hair said, “We didn’t an to trouble Professor Lin; Brother Jie went to find Zhang Dong.
We were just trying our luck.
The old lady had recognized Zhang Dong as her godson previously, and the ID she used to borrow money was hers!”
“It’s not very peaceful outside right now.
Looking for soone everywhere for just over two hundred thousand, aren’t you afraid of stumbling upon problems?” Xu Huo glanced at the photocopy of the IOU, “Brother Jie, he used to run errands at Long Xing Underground Market, right?”
The young man with yellow hair cautiously lifted his head, “Big Brother, you know our Brother Jie?”
“I’ve had dealings with him before, and we’re on good terms,” Xu Huo thought for a mont and then said, “He even brought
a gift for the New Year.”
The three young n’s faces lit up with joy at his words, and the one with yellow hair quickly said, “So, Big Brother, you’re friends with Brother Jie.
Then we won’t hide it from you; actually, Zhang Dong stole from two bars and ran off.
We heard he beca an Evolver, and we didn’t catch him, so we’ve been out looking for people.”
“You think you can handle an Evolver?” Xu Huo patted the photo and personal information of Zhang Dong, “Alright, off you go, and don’t co back.”
The yellow-haired one wanted to say more, but the chill in his eyes had him swallowing his words, and he led his two friends away.
“This won’t cause you any trouble, will it?” Professor Lin said uneasily, “Actually, these lads haven’t done anything too outrageous; everything inside the house had already been cleared out previously.”
“You should move sowhere else,” Xu Huo said.
“The state’s asures for supervising Evolvers aren’t perfected yet, and it’s not safe to live in such a mixed and chaotic place.”
He took out a card, “There are several tens of thousands in here.
I’m leaving you my phone number.
After you move, send
the address; I might need to trouble you in the future.”
Professor Lin was both grateful and afraid, stuttering, “I really can’t be of any help to you anymore…”
“Just stay alive.” Xu Huo left the Hongxing Residential Area and, following the address given by Professor Lin, he proceeded to a sanatorium in the suburbs.
The son of the female doctor worked at the sanatorium.
After explaining his purpose, the son led Xu Huo to where the female doctor was resting.
“My mother doesn’t really recognize people anymore,” Liao Xu said.
“She did ntion so things about the Seventeenth Hospital in the past, but never in great detail, and I don’t know much either.”
“All the things she took when she was fired from the hospital were burned.”
“Burned?” Xu Huo looked at the elderly woman covered with a blanket, sitting at the edge of the bed, her eyes looking forward but devoid of any expression.
“She burned them herself,” Liao Xu said.
“I rember she was very angry at the ti; after venting her anger, she burned everything she took.”
“Did you know your mother had a lover at the Seventeenth Hospital?” Xu Huo asked.
Liao Xu was taken aback, “Although my parents divorced quite early, these years she’s never talked about remarrying or being involved with anyone, but she was rather happy during her ti at the Seventeenth Hospital.”
“She never ntioned other colleagues?” Xu Huo continued to ask.
“Occasionally she did, and she complained about another female colleague being difficult to get along with.” Liao Xu thought carefully, “Other than that, I don’t rember much.”
Xu Huo approached the female doctor, bent down to look at her, “How many doctors were there at the Seventeenth Hospital?”
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