There were two words and a smiling emoji on the text ssage, followed by the report of Zi Lin completing the task. Xiao Lin set down his phone, and Yi was standing right in front of him. He crossed his leg, waiting for him to speak, but it seed the latter intended to play a silent ga with him.
"If you’re here to apologize, don’t bother."
"Consort Ling is injured." Yi’s words made Xiao Lin raise his eyebrow slightly.
"Where is she?"
"Just sent to the dical room on the second floor."
"Prepare the tools I need." Xiao Lin put down the tablet in his hand, ignoring the information it was trying to convey for the mont.
The dical room had simple hydrogen peroxide and so routine tools, a surgical table, and a high-intensity lamp. The person laying on the table had a twitching left leg, with one hand hanging outside.
"What happened?" Xiao Lin thoroughly washed his hands with a brush at the sink, then put on gloves.
"Ambushed on the way back."
"You should be able to find out who the ambushers are!" He tore open Consort Ling’s clothing, exposing the wounds—bullet wounds and knife cuts that severed the major arteries. "This act seems too real!" Although he said this, the work in his hands didn’t slacken at all. He placed two fingers firmly on the thigh’s arterial locations, blocking the acupoints on both ends temporarily to stop the bleeding, then used a retractor to slightly open the wound. Blood erged, and he glanced at the still unconscious Consort Ling, using forceps to place hemostatic cotton inside the wound to absorb the blood. Despite blocking the acupoints, it wasn’t completely effective.
"It’s not an act." Yi stood by the side, having no role to play, and after receiving the ssage about Consort Ling’s ambush, he had done what he thought required.
"Isn’t it?" Xiao Lin observed the wound, noting the lethal techniques everywhere. "Wasn’t she being chased by you?"
"Indeed, it was prearranged, but shortly after you approached Consort Ling, the mission was canceled."
"Fine, fine." The hemostatic cotton was thrown aside, and Xiao Lin, wearing magnifying glasses, found the severed spot and started stitching with sutures. "How do you explain this?"
"I’m investigating." Hearing Yi’s business-like tone, he glared at him before focusing back on the treatnt.
Lao Jiu sensed a low pressure as soon as he entered the dical room; he sowhat regretted coming in, feeling uncomfortable due to the oppressive aura emanating from Xiao Lin.
"Do you have results?" Yi, seeing him moving, glanced worriedly at Xiao Lin, gesturing for Lao Jiu to wait outside.
"Speak here directly." Xiao Lin didn’t look up; the last junction of the major artery seed peculiar; the adhesion was nearly severed. Simple stitching wouldn’t suffice.
Lao Jiu glanced at Yi, troubled. "Speak."
"Not our people." Lao Jiu figured such an explanation might be easier to understand.
"Besides ’Black Crow’, are there other assassin organizations dostically?" Xiao Lin made a connection at the end of an adhesion and fracture spot, hoping for integration.
"Only a few small groups."
"Red Clothes said the opponent looked like a foreigner, with height and build different from Asians."
"Do you have antibiotics or similar dications?" Xiao Lin began suturing Consort Ling’s surface wound.
"Yes, but it costs money." Lao Jiu scratched the back of his head. This was a place of business; injuries were inevitable for assassins, and the pharmacy was open to sell dicines.
"Two bottles of antibiotics, a catheter and needle, and also need gauze and bandages; furthermore, prepare a set of scalpels and anesthetic. These common dicines should be available here, right?" Xiao Lin was a bit doubtful.
"Should have." Finally finding an excuse to leave, he dashed out.
"When did you start managing ’Black Crow’? Or should I say, when did you start establishing ’Black Crow’?" Xiao Lin circled Consort Ling once, arriving at the bullet wound. The bullet didn’t hit any vital areas, though the entry point was a bit awkward.
Unclear about the bullet’s entry direction and angle, determining if it injured any organs still required opening it up and checking. Used surgical scalpels couldn’t be reused; this was common knowledge, so he had a brief break while waiting for Lao Jiu’s return.
"’Black Crow’ isn’t as simple as you imagine. When he approached , I was surprised."
"You’re saying you didn’t willingly take up this position?"
"Indeed, not willingly." Yi felt as if he were justifying himself, frowning involuntarily. "I’m not defending myself; when the old man found , I knew nothing at all. He made choose between you and him."
"Now you’re telling , back then you chose my damn old man?"
"Young Master Xiao, you can’t speak of the old man like that." Yi was startled by Xiao Lin’s words, wide-eyed in disbelief at Xiao Lin’s disrespect toward Xiao Zhenfeng.
"You want to know the truth and then pretend it doesn’t affect ? You’re overestimating , Xiao Lin."
Yi sighed. "I didn’t choose anyone because back then, I really didn’t have the ability or qualification to choose. The old man gave a year, he said if I could eliminate all adverse factors during this year, he would approve of being by your side."
"Adverse factors?"
"I am rely the leader of the ’Black Crow’ organization in the dostic region. The creation of ’Underground City’ was an additional branch opened by the old man after I beca the head, essentially a place to support the existence of ’Black Crow’. Because different regions compete, conflicts can also occur, so..."
"Only gauze and bandages, I brought three bottles of antibiotics, no scalpel, no anesthetics, but I brought alcohol."
"This should be enough." Xiao Lin soaked the discarded scalpel in alcohol, the tools on hand were unsuitable for this surgery, so he set them aside. Lao Jiu curiously opened the cloth bag and fiddled around. "Find so hemp rope to tie him to the table tightly, knock him out if necessary."
By this ti, Consort Ling should be waking up soon, given the absence of anesthetics, he hesitated whether to continue. Amidst contemplation, the knife had already cut along the bullet’s edge, the person lying down bounced once and opened their eyes.
"Bear with it, I’m extracting the bullet for you." Xiao Lin winked at Consort Ling, Yi had already bound his limbs to the table in the shortest ti.
Perhaps interrupted while shooting, the bullet didn’t hit vital areas, instead skimd the edge going in, not deeply, with half the bullet exposed. Once the adhesions at the edge were cut open, it could be extracted with a tweezer in a single flick.
Consort Ling let out a moan, sweat appeared on his forehead, actually removing the bullet wasn’t painful, it’s the suturing that’s the real torture.
"Rember who injured you?" Xiao Lin wouldn’t go easy because of Consort Ling’s moans, the precision of each needle entry made the man under his hands tremble.
"Couldn’t see the opponent’s face, but judging by the moves, they are between and Bo Zong."
"Really?" Ten centiters of length were fixed together amid back and forth traversing. After Xiao Lin tied the knot, he tightened the two wounds with bandages. "Antibiotics must be used." He shoved the person who tried to get up back down, found an accessible vein, and started an IV drip.
"I..."
"Let’s talk tomorrow if there’s anything." Calculating the ti each drop fell, Xiao Lin adjusted the room temperature higher. "You can think about how to explain it to ." Yi cast a sympathetic glance at Consort Ling, followed Xiao Lin out, dragging Lao Jiu along.
"On your assassin list, there’s a task, Hong Lian, how much do you know about this person?" Sa room as last ti, the damaged furniture had been replaced brand new. Lao Jiu looked warily at the two people in front of him, although he didn’t lack money to buy furniture, he couldn’t keep replacing it every day, the cost was also quite high.
"Haven’t heard, judging by the assassin ranking, he shouldn’t be any important figure." Lao Jiu clicked into the backend system to view personal details. "But the person who offered the price is very interesting." He handed the tablet to Yi, who looked and uttered a surprised sound.
"It’s Wang Zhanting." The seller unexpectedly turned out to be Wang Zhanting, Xiao Lin squinted, his intuition had always been accurate.
"Hong Lian?" Xiao Lin softly recited and then looked at Yi. "You still stand with the old man?"
"The car is outside, you can leave anyti."
"You’re crazy!" Lao Jiu dragged Yi aside, shocked by Yi’s bold decision. "Even if he’s the boss outside now, you can’t just let him go!" He warned Yi in a low voice.
"I’ll continue to investigate Consort Ling’s matter." Yi broke free from Lao Jiu’s grasp, he had no explanation to offer.
Watching his face, Xiao Lin took the car keys and dashed out.
"You’re truly insane, what if the old man gets upset, it’s not even a week yet."
"Doesn’t matter." Looking out the window, Xiao Lin’s figure had already disappeared from his view. He didn’t know if this would count as letting Xiao Lin go privately, but he knew that place couldn’t hold that person, unless the person himself didn’t want to leave. "As assassins, we kill and get killed, don’t consider anything else."
"Have you already confird who did it?"
Yi nodded, those who disregarded assassin rules, joined gangs once they ca out; this approach appeared to lack professional ethics in his eyes. "But logically, they shouldn’t interfere with us here, each has their own territory, conducting their own businesses, there’s a convention in place."
"Then it can only an we have too much fat in hand, they’re worried we won’t consu it." Lao Jiu’s slightly schadenfreude expression amused Yi.
"All our actions should coordinate with Young Master Xiao, don’t act arbitrarily."
"You all fear him, but I don’t."
"Hmm, not afraid, what did you just wear, running faster than a rabbit."
"That’s because the situation was different." The task previously online was taken by soone. "Oh, soone has taken this task, the code is DOMO73895."
At this point, Lao Jiu glanced at Yi, the latter’s surprise matched his. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, feel free to vote for recomndations and tickets on Qidian (qidian), your support is my greatest motivation.)
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