Chapter 43: Treating the Injured

Chapter 43: Treating the Injured

I carried Old Wang to the safe house, then parked the car some distance from the safe house before heading back.

Safe houses were all designed along the same lines. Beyond shielding against electronic detection, each one kept a stock of medicines and daily supplies — enough for ordinary living.

I settled Old Wang on the bed and applied some medicine to his wounds.

Using my penetrating vision, I examined his injuries. Most were superficial. He looked like he was drenched in blood, but it was nothing serious. He was genuinely exhausted, and the blast wave from the car explosion had done some contusive damage to his soft tissue.

“Were all those people in the car your associates?” I asked.

Old Wang seemed to have recovered somewhat. “Associates? Is that how you refer to people? No manners at all. And you call yourself a high monk? Those were brave and righteous men — warriors fighting to save all of humanity.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “I didn’t know any of them. Praise them however you like.”

“Go bring me that suitcase,” Old Wang said.

Thinking about his suitcase at a time like this — there had to be something important inside. No wonder the Soul Hunters had taken one look and known they had a big fish.

I got to my feet, walked to the door, carried the suitcase back, and set it by the bed.

Old Wang raised himself slightly. “Open it. Take out one of the lacquer boxes.”

I opened the suitcase. Inside were many lacquer boxes about the size of jewelry cases, alongside what looked like instruments and other equipment. “There are a lot of lacquer boxes. Which one do you want?”

“The one with Zhu written on it.”

Sure enough, one box had the character Zhu written on the lid in blue pen. I took it out and handed it to him.

Without even glancing at it, Old Wang said, “Open it yourself.”

I did, and found a Wisdom Capsule sealed inside.

I took it out and held it against the neurons at the back of my neck to get a read on it. Martial techniques, financial knowledge, that sort of thing. Fairly ordinary.

Old Wang barked, “What on earth are you messing about with? That isn’t for you. Gu Kunling sent it for you to use on that girl surnamed Zhu.”

Treating someone? Surnamed Zhu?

So this was something Gu Kunling had prepared specifically for Zhu Zhaojie.

“I’m tired,” Old Wang said. “Go treat the patient first. Once I’ve rested a bit, I’ll fill you in on everything else. Off you go.”

I @#￥%…

He was seriously sending me away already?

I was tired too, for what it was worth. Surely sitting down for a moment wasn’t too much to ask. No manners.

Fine. I couldn’t be bothered to argue. “All right. Get some rest. Do you need me to bring anything?”

Old Wang thought it over. “Anything? All that equipment in the vehicle earlier — good stuff, every bit of it. Pity. Never mind. You go ahead. I can take care of myself. Come back when you have time.”

Talking to strangers was exhausting.

Still, this was good news. With a new Wisdom Capsule, I could install it for Zhu Zhaojie and spare her any more suffering.

I left the safe house and hurried to where Zhu Zhaojie was staying.

Although it was already late, she and Zhu Shiqing were still up. Gu Qiutang was asleep in the next room.

I installed the new Wisdom Capsule for Zhu Zhaojie and let her adjust to it herself.

She had been fitted with one by the Sweepers before, so she knew what to expect. After taking a moment to feel it out, she said, “The contents are different from the old one, but this one seems to fit better somehow. The neurons and the capsule come together very easily.”

Seeing Zhu Zhaojie recover put me at ease. Gu Kunling had clearly kept this in mind all along. Perhaps this capsule had been custom-made for Zhu Zhaojie specifically.

The biggest difference between this capsule and the Sweeper version, I noticed, was that it could seep on its own into the neural center inside the brain. The moment it was installed, it seemed to dissolve into place, rather than simply latching on to the neural center at the back of the neck and sitting there. That made it far harder for even the Sweepers to detect. Gu Kunling’s own capsule was the same kind. Clearly the resistance had serious technical talent inside — more advanced than the Sweepers.

I said nothing to Zhu Zhaojie about where it came from, and she didn’t ask. She wasn’t a member of the resistance, after all. Honestly, neither was I — not really. I knew nothing about the organization’s internal workings or personnel.

Gu Qiutang’s color had improved a little, mostly thanks to the medicines in the safe house. The hallucinogen in his system had worn off, leaving a psychological backlash in its wake, but fortunately it was still within what he could endure. He remained weak.

I didn’t linger and let him rest.

Back at the company, Gu Kunling still hadn’t appeared. She must have had plenty on her hands that night.

Four or five days passed that way, and I didn’t dare leave the company. With Gu Kunling away, documents kept piling up across the company, all of them waiting for my signature. On the business side, Zhu Xinyuan pulled her weight, and things moved along well enough.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, Gu Kunling finally returned.

The moment I saw her, I had the feeling she’d grown thinner. These past few days clearly hadn’t been easy, and the pressure must have been immense.

I told her to go and see Gu Qiutang first. He had improved a little over the past few days, but brain injuries were slow to heal, and she should see what could be done.

Gu Kunling already knew I had rescued Gu Qiutang. I had no idea how she’d found out — but before I said a word, she already knew everything. Apparently she had no shortage of eyes and ears.

No wonder she had been gone so long without showing any urgency.

Of course, my actions at Big Bell Temple had hardly been discreet. And I suspected the Sweepers had her people planted among them as well. Otherwise, how had she known that the Soul Hunter List would be on Bi Deyuan? Word that Gu Qiutang had been rescued would have reached her long before I could tell her myself.

I didn’t ask about the state of their organization’s bases. She hadn’t brought it up, so neither did I.

The following day, Gu Kunling came to me and said she needed to step in and take over the Gu Group. Gu Qiutang wouldn’t be recovering anytime soon, and too many matters at the group demanded her attention. The investment company, on this end, would be left entirely in my hands.

During the days she’d been away, I had signed plenty of documents and picked up a fair amount about the business. I felt I could manage. So I agreed.

Zhu Zhaojie had been recovering well since having the capsule installed. I wanted her back at work as soon as possible. The capsule contained a good deal of financial knowledge — Gu Kunling had probably intended exactly that. So I appointed Zhu Zhaojie as Zhu Xinyuan’s deputy.

Gu Qiutang’s mental faculties had taken damage. His condition seemed stable enough, so I discussed with Gu Kunling the idea of transferring him to Pingdu Hospital for proper treatment.

Gu Kunling had some reservations at first. My feeling was that the Soul Hunters had already captured Gu Qiutang and scanned his brain. They knew perfectly well he was an ordinary person with no Wisdom Capsule installed. The likelihood of them coming back for him was low.

Gu Kunling eventually came around.

The next day, I took Gu Qiutang to Pingdu Hospital and found Dr. Yan to help.

Dr. Yan was a brain specialist. Repairing damaged brain nerves was her field, and I had hired her to provide consultations at the incapacitated people’s base before, so she was fairly familiar with cases like this.

After the hospital scanned Gu Qiutang’s brain, Dr. Yan moved quickly to schedule a repair surgery.

The surgery went well. Gu Qiutang rested at the hospital for a few days without any trouble from the Soul Hunters. Once the discharge paperwork was sorted, I quietly arranged for him to return to the safe house and asked Zhu Shiqing to look after him for the time being, with the plan being that he’d go back to his own residence once he’d fully recovered.

Zhu Shiqing was pleased with how well Zhu Zhaojie had come along and was more than happy to help.

A few more days of business kept me busy. Once things had settled, I finally found a window to slip over to the safe house near Fahai Temple.

Old Wang had clearly recovered. He was brimming with energy.

How had he gotten better so quickly?

Next to Gu Qiutang, who still looked pale and hollowed-out, Old Wang seemed almost superhuman.

Old Wang had me sit across from him while he leaned back on the sofa. He reached into the suitcase, pulled out a small, dull gray object, and held it out to me.

I couldn’t make anything of it, so I pressed it against the neurons at the back of my head and let my senses reach in.

That one touch set something off. The Soul Hunter receiver I had previously installed activated immediately. I should say — whenever I had eavesdropped on Soul Hunter communications before, I had never dared to open it fully. I cracked it only the tiniest bit, terrified of being detected.

So I pulled the thing away at once, looked at Old Wang, and said, “The moment it got close to my neurons, I felt the parasitic receiver I copied from the Soul Hunter capsule activate. Could the Soul Hunters detect that? Could I be parasitized?”

Old Wang heard me out, then broke into a full, easy laugh. “Good. That’s exactly the kind of caution you should have. But what you just activated isn’t called a receiver. It’s called a connector.”

“A connector?” I said. “What’s the difference?”

“They’re nothing alike,” Old Wang said. “Receiving means one-way acceptance — you take in whatever comes. Connecting means an equal exchange of information between two parties. The connector you copied is an integrated structure, a mutual-exchange structure. That ability capsule the elite people made was originally something I designed with AI back in the early days. Let me put it this way: Lu Qingyue parasitized Zhu Zhaojie, but in reality, Zhu Zhaojie could also reverse-parasitize her. The prerequisite, of course, is that Zhu Zhaojie’s willpower is strong enough and that she learns consciousness switching.”

I stared at Old Wang.

Something that sophisticated, and he had designed it?

Was he actually serious?

Old Wang caught the look on my face. “What — you don’t believe me?”

“Are you one of the elite people?”

Old Wang was entirely unbothered. “So what if I am? You think all elite people are bad people? Your mother was one too.”

“My mother?” I said. “She died in battle at the start of the war. Don’t make things up.”

Old Wang seemed to realize he’d said too much. He shifted course. “I’m going to teach you how to use consciousness switching. Learn it, and you’ll be able to control puppets — let them do your work and shield you from disaster.”

Curious, I asked, “You’re not a puppet yourself right now, are you? With your real body sitting somewhere in the Hidden World?”

Old Wang actually nodded. “You really do have nerve, kid. At least your brain works. Figure the rest out yourself. And by the way — we don’t call it the Elite World or the Hidden World. We call it the Spirit Realm.”

The Spirit Realm.

First time I’d heard that.

But could he genuinely be a puppet?

His tone, and the fight I’d seen that evening — none of it fit. And that body of his, with the injuries it had taken that day — how could that not be a real person?

And yet, the way he was acting…

So was he or wasn’t he?