Chapter 137: A Desperate Gamble

Just follow us, cut out all the nonsense.

Feng Liang tossed those words out, turned around and left, and Zheng Lei and Wang I-ming followed right behind him.

Before leaving, Feng Liang cast a cold glance at Tung Kan-en. That chilling look thoroughly terrified Tung Kan-en, who had been secretly scrutinizing him. Especially when Tung Kan-en heard Feng Liang say that Hsu Lang was to go with them, his face instantly turned deathly pale. He gripped Hsu Lang’s hand so tightly that his knuckles whitened; Hsu Lang could clearly feel that Tung Kan-en’s palms were drenched in sweat.

After Feng Liang departed, the door of the room remained wide open, yet none of the occupants made any move to take advantage of this opportunity to escape. The three men playing cards had no intention of leaving whatsoever. When Feng Liang first appeared, they had assumed he was looking for them and were quite thrilled, but upon learning that the one being taken away was Hsu Lang, who had arrived only that morning, a deep sense of disappointment washed over them. Once Feng Liang was gone, they shot Hsu Lang looks filled with envy and jealousy before returning to their card game.

Chou Hung-wen, half-sitting on his bunk, watched Hsu Lang’s receding figure with hesitation. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately kept silent. After all, he had only just met Hsu Lang; even though Hsu Lang knew about his family situation, that alone did not mean much.

"Big brother..."

At that moment, Tung Kan-en called out softly. Hsu Lang turned his head to look at Tung Kan-en, who wore an expression of sheer panic and was shaking his head frantically. Hsu Lang offered a reassuring smile and asked, "Do you trust me?"

Hearing this question, Tung Kan-en nodded almost instinctively, and then he heard Hsu Lang say, "Then just wait here obediently, take good care of Big Brother Chou Hung-wen, and I'll be back very soon."

"Can you not go?" Tung Kan-en blurted out.

Hsu Lang smiled, shook his head, gave Tung Kan-en’s hand a firm squeeze, and then turned back to Chou Hung-wen, who was half-relying on the bed. "Take good care of him."

With those words, Hsu Lang released Tung Kan-en’s hand and walked straight toward the exit. As soon as Hsu Lang stepped out of the room, Wang I-ming, who had been waiting by the door, immediately locked it. Wang I-ming cast a long, complicated look at Hsu Lang without uttering a single word.

After locking the door, Wang I-ming took a blindfold out of his pocket, intending to put it on Hsu Lang. Hsu Lang frowned, stepped back, and said, "Do I really have to wear this thing? It's terribly uncomfortable."

Hearing this, Wang I-ming did not use force. Instead, he turned his head and looked toward Feng Liang, who was standing at the courtyard entrance.

Noticing Wang I-ming's inquiring gaze, Feng Liang nodded and led the way out of the courtyard, with Zheng Lei following closely behind.

Under Wang I-ming's watchful eye, Hsu Lang then walked out of the courtyard as well.

Parked right outside the courtyard gates was the sedan. As he emerged, Hsu Lang noticed that Feng Liang was already seated in the front passenger seat, while Cheng Mao-tsai was behind the wheel. Hsu Lang had been wondering earlier where Cheng Mao-tsai had gone; it turned out the fellow had been sent to fetch the car, which explained why he hadn't come inside.

Approaching the vehicle, Hsu Lang saw that Zheng Lei was already sitting in the rear left seat, and the door on Hsu Lang’s side had been pulled open. Before getting in, Hsu Lang cast a glance around his surroundings, his gaze lingering on a certain spot for two full seconds before he withdrew it. As he climbed into the car, he gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod. Wang I-ming, who had been keeping a close eye on him throughout, failed to notice this subtle gesture and climbed in right after him.

Once everyone was aboard, the engine started, and the car pulled away, heading out into the distance.

Inside the car, Hsu Lang initially turned his head to look outside, confirming that this was indeed a rural area where the roadsides were flanked only by withered weeds and leafless trees. After watching the scenery for a short while, he pulled his gaze back. At that moment, he noticed that Feng Liang had turned around and was staring right at him. Unfazed, Hsu Lang met Feng Liang's gaze naturally and asked, "Where are we going?"

Feng Liang looked slightly surprised by Hsu Lang’s composure, but remembering Hsu Lang’s exploits in S City, he understood. Someone who dared to borrow from loan sharks surely possessed some nerve. Turning to face the front once more, Feng Liang replied indifferently, "The hospital."

"In such a hurry?" Hsu Lang frowned and asked.

"Alas—"

Hearing the question, Feng Liang let out a sigh and said, "No choice. The situation has changed; complications have arisen."

Hearing this, Hsu Lang felt a tightening in his chest. Could it be that Tzu-che Ho-hsuan had been spotted by Feng Liang while tailing him, thereby alerting the enemy? The thought barely surfaced before Hsu Lang dismissed it; it was likely due to some other reason entirely.

Sure enough, before Hsu Lang could press further, Feng Liang volunteered the explanation himself.

"The buyer's condition has deteriorated. A kidney transplant is urgently needed now. There's simply no other way."

Having heard Feng Liang’s explanation, Hsu Lang nodded without asking any more questions and turned his gaze back to the window.

***

The drive was significantly faster this time than when they had transported Hsu Lang to the place where Chou Hung-wen and the others were being held. In less than an hour, the car re-entered the urban area of Y City and drove straight up to the entrance of a hospital.

After all four of them stepped out of the car, Hsu Lang glanced at the building and realized this was no regular public hospital; it had to be the private medical facility Chou Hung-wen had mentioned earlier. As soon as they alighted, Cheng Mao-tsai quickly drove the vehicle away.

Guided by Feng Liang, Hsu Lang went straight to the elevators from the ground floor and rode up to the twelfth floor. Upon exiting the elevator, the group walked down the hallway until they reached the door of the director’s office. Feng Liang instructed the others to wait outside while he knocked on the door.

A woman's voice came from within, "Come in."

At the sound, Feng Liang pushed the door open and stepped inside, immediately closing it behind him.

Though the door had only been ajar for a brief moment, Hsu Lang managed to catch a glimpse of the person inside. Seated behind the desk was indeed a woman, approximately in her thirties, with chin-length short hair, wearing a pair of glasses and professional attire. She was holding a fountain pen, head bowed, writing something on a document spread across the desk. That was all Hsu Lang was able to see before the view was cut off.

The sight of the woman sent a jolt through Hsu Lang. He felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen her somewhere before. His mind raced, scanning his memories, and he quickly recalled where he had encountered her image.

Hsu Lang had once come across this woman in a newspaper article detailing a charitable donation drive, where she had been the central figure in the photograph. Her name was Wen Hsueh-lan.

Curious at the time, Hsu Lang had searched for information about her online. Wen Hsueh-lan was no ordinary person. She was a wealthy second-generation heiress whose father, Wen Ming-te, was one of the major shareholders in a Y City pharmaceutical company—the very same man who had founded this private hospital. Furthermore, Wen Hsueh-lan was not merely rich; she was a top-tier scholar who had majored in medicine and studied abroad. Following graduation, she had returned home. Around that time, her father Wen Ming-te’s health had begun to fail, prompting her to take over all his assets since she was his only child.

Ever since Wen Hsueh-lan took over her father's empire, Wen Ming-te’s physical condition had steadily worsened, reportedly due to kidney failure. Rumor had it that finding a suitable donor had proven exceedingly difficult, delaying the transplant until it was too late. By the time a matching organ finally arrived and the surgery was performed, although technically successful, severe rejection set in, and Wen Ming-te eventually passed away.

Of course, these were merely street rumors, and their veracity remained unconfirmed. At the time, Hsu Lang had only glanced through the reports without paying much attention. His initial interest had been piqued simply because the woman was attractive, highly educated abroad, and immensely wealthy. When he began investigating the human organ trafficking ring in S City, Wen Hsueh-lan had never crossed his mind. He certainly hadn't expected to run into her here.

If Hsu Lang’s deductions were correct, this Wen Hsueh-lan was very likely the elusive "Boss Wen" who always remained behind the scenes. As for whether the facts aligned with this hypothesis, a proper investigation would reveal the truth.

"Ouch!"

Hsu Lang suddenly let out a cry of pain. Hearing this, Zheng Lei and Wang I-ming both turned their heads toward him.

Frowning, Zheng Lei demanded, "What's wrong with you? What are you howling for?"

Clutching his stomach with a grimace, Hsu Lang groaned, "My stomach suddenly feels terrible. It must be something unclean I ate at noon. No, I can't hold it—where is the restroom? I need to go."

Zheng Lei paused at these words, his mind immediately flashing to the conditions at the holding facility where the donors were kept. He knew the situation there all too well; the food supplies were hardly fresh. Every time he bought provisions in bulk to last over a week, and by the time Hsu Lang had arrived, those ingredients had been sitting there for over five days. Zheng Lei had originally planned to restock within the next few days, but urgent matters had intervened, causing delays. Remembering this, Zheng Lei shot a glance at Wang I-ming, signaling him to take Hsu Lang along.

Wang I-ming gave Hsu Lang a cold glare, turned around and walked off. Hsu Lang hurried to keep pace.

Upon entering the restroom, Hsu Lang dashed directly into a stall and locked the door behind him. Dropping his pants, he sat down on the toilet, slipped off one of his shoes, and extracted a miniature cellphone hidden inside the sole. Pressing the power button, he breathed a sigh of relief when the screen lit up. He had been terrified the battery might be dead. Although it still held a charge, the battery indicator was critically low; another day and the device would have shut down permanently.

Holding the phone tightly, Hsu Lang rapidly typed out a short message and hit send:

"Close the net."

Instead of putting the phone back into his shoe, Hsu Lang lifted the toilet lid, removed the plastic liner from the trash bin, wrapped the phone securely inside the plastic bag, and tucked it neatly into the tank cistern beneath the lid. Replacing the cover, he finally let out a true breath of relief before actually taking care of his biological needs.

"Are you done yet?"

Wang I-ming's emotionless voice suddenly echoed from outside the stall door.

Curling his lip, Hsu Lang shouted back, "What's with the rush? Hold your horses."

Three minutes passed, and Wang I-ming's urging voice rang out again, "How much longer are you going to stay in there?"

Hsu Lang had already finished his business. As he reached to grab some toilet paper, he realized to his dismay that his pockets were completely empty. A quick check of the tiny waste basket revealed it was completely clean and empty as well. Feeling rather helpless, he called out, "Hey outside! Did you bring any tissue?"

***

"I did. What about it?" Wang I-ming replied from the corridor.

"Then do me a favor and pass some in. I forgot to bring any."

"Open the door then," Wang I-ming said impatiently.

With no other choice, Hsu Lang unlocked and opened the door. Wang I-ming stood in the doorway, his eyes sweeping over Hsu Lang first before peering into the stall, finding nothing suspicious.

With a dark expression, Hsu Lang snapped, "How long are you going to stare? Hand me the paper! Or do you have some weird peeping habit?"

Scowling, Wang I-ming pulled a packet of tissues from his pocket, tossed it at Hsu Lang, and turned away without another word.

As soon as Wang I-ming walked off, Hsu Lang promptly pulled the door shut.

After waiting for roughly a minute outside, Wang I-ming heard the sound of a toilet flush echoing from within the stall, and Hsu Lang emerged a moment later.

"Ah, what a relief," Hsu Lang chatted as he walked over to the sink. "Here, the tissues aren't even half used. Giving it back."

With that, he tossed the remaining packet of tissues toward Wang I-ming and stepped up to the basin to wash his hands. Reflexively catching the tossed packet, Wang I-ming glanced down at it and noticed the packaging felt slightly sticky and damp, as if coated in something undefinable. Disgusted, he immediately chucked the packet into the trash can beside the washbasin.

Though busy washing his hands, Hsu Lang caught Wang I-ming's movement out of the corner of his eye. The man's reflexes in catching the packet had been exceptionally swift and precise—the mark of someone with serious physical training. Hsu Lang deduced that Wang I-ming was likely far more than a simple two-year conscript; the fellow undoubtedly had a backstory. However, this was hardly the time to dwell on such matters.

The message sent from the restroom would have reached Ning Yen-ran and the others. The phone Hsu Lang carried had been specially modified by their team; as long as it maintained a charge, his location would remain trackable unless he entered a total dead zone. Now that the order to close the net had been transmitted, Ning Yen-ran's team would have pinpointed his position the moment he arrived at the hospital. With the signal given, a joint operation between the S City and Y City police forces to round up the suspects was undoubtedly underway.

Hsu Lang could only pray they acted quickly, for he strongly suspected he was moments away from being wheeled into an operating room. If Ning Yen-ran's team arrived too late, some crucial part of his anatomy might soon go missing.

As for the holding location of Chou Hung-wen, Tung Kan-en, and the other donors, Hsu Lang wasn't worried. Tzu-che Ho-hsuan had been trailing Feng Liang ever since they boarded the train; since Feng Liang had visited that location today, Tzu-che Ho-hsuan would have discovered it as well. Just before leaving earlier, Hsu Lang had spotted the spot where Tzu-che Ho-hsuan was lurking. Though he hadn't seen the man's face clearly, he had caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes for a fraction of a second—short as the moment was, Hsu Lang was certain it was him.

Drying his hands, Hsu Lang followed Wang I-ming out of the washroom and back to the corridor outside the director's office. Upon arrival, he found that Feng Liang had already emerged and was waiting for them in the hallway.

Casting a rather unfriendly glance at Hsu Lang, Feng Liang didn't say a thing.

Instead, he motioned for them to follow and led them toward a VIP ward down the hall. Unlike standard rooms, this VIP suite was fully equipped with a sofa, a television, and all the modern amenities alongside a hospital bed. Chou Hung-wen had previously claimed that the facility's hygiene standards were subpar compared to regular hospitals, and Hsu Lang had initially thought the same. However, upon reaching the twelfth floor, he realized Chou Hung-wen’s assessment was inaccurate; the amenities here were exceptionally comprehensive, rivaling or even exceeding standard medical establishments. Naturally, this was tailored for wealthy clientele who demanded high standards of luxury and hygiene.

Reaching the exterior of the VIP ward, Feng Liang once again entered alone while leaving the others outside. Peering through the glass pane on the door, Hsu Lang could clearly observe the interior scene. A man lay on the bed, though his face was obscured from Hsu Lang's angle. However, noticing that the man showed virtually no reaction when Feng Liang walked in, Hsu Lang deduced that his condition must be critical—which explained why Feng Liang and his associates were in such a frantic state.

Aside from the patient on the bed, there were four other people inside the room: three men and one woman. The woman sat facing away from the door by the bedside, her features hidden, though from her posture Hsu Lang estimated she was quite young. A masked male doctor stood near the head of the bed, a man in his fifties stood beside the woman, and a younger man who had initially been seated opposite the woman stood up upon Feng Liang's entrance, walking over to the window to stare blankly at the view outside.

After exchanging a few words with the occupants, Feng Liang walked over to the young man by the window. Following a brief conversation, the young man waved his hand impatiently, pulled a bank card from his pocket, tossed it directly to Feng Liang, muttered something brief, and waved him away dismissively.

Catching the card, Feng Liang immediately tucked it into his pocket and backed out of the room.