Chapter 15: People in the City are Crafty

After waving goodbye to the hunters, everyone returned to Starfire Town without any incidents.

The small town at dusk remained as it was, most people were lifeless and devoid of any vitality.

It was still the curry-scented slum, still the same listless, zombie-like crowd.

It was not the first time seeing this scene, but Ren Zhong still instinctively felt uncomfortable.

Even though he had learned a lot more about this world, and knew the threat that the Ruined Beasts posed to humankind, he still couldn't understand why such a bleak social atmosphere existed in an era of highly advanced technology.

From Ren Zhong's worldview, based on the foundation of 21st-century Chinese society, even just through political insights, he believed that there were actually many ways to slightly improve the atmosphere of the town.

At the corner of the street, a haggard old man suddenly collapsed silently on the ground.

The passing crowd merely glanced at the old man and then continued walking on without caring whether he lived or died.

Last time, Ren Zhong had also seen this scene.

He felt a stir in his heart again, his lips quivered, instinctively wanting to say something but eventually closed his mouth.

If one cannot clean their own house, how can they govern the world?

Right now, he hadn't lived on this planet for more than twenty-four hours in total, less significant than an ant, just a mere mayfly. Where did he get the qualifications to criticize and point fingers at general societal problems?

...

At the intersection of the white inner circle wall and the slum, Ren Zhong stood with his hands behind his back outside the door of Miracle Clinic.

Compared to last time, he arrived here half an hour earlier.

According to his previous plan, he intended to head straight to the clinic upon entering the city, but there was a little deviation.

He initially wanted Zheng Tian to help sell off the Crystal Winged Dragonfly Corpse and just transfer the money to him later.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Tian awkwardly explained that it was not worthwhile.

Zheng Tian said that if there were any money transfers between individual desolates' accounts, it would be considered a transaction and would incur a 10% tax.

When she transferred money to the other team members, it was because the whole team was affiliated with the professional team, and the reason for the transfer was marked as a share of the hunting spoils.

Usually, if other team members needed to borrow money from her, they would have to pay taxes when transferring.

Zheng Tian understood that Ren Zhong, as an "undercover" high-ranking Pu Cha officer, had never experienced these down-and-out days when private transfers were taxed and was not very familiar with the baseline public sentiments of the desolates. He should be reminded.

Ren Zhong understood that he was originally penniless, and even 0.08 Contribution Points were money worth saving.

Eventually, Ren Zhong followed to the Starfire Resource Recycling Company, finished his business there, and then rushed to the clinic, saving half an hour of inquiry time.

Stepping inside, Ren Zhong saw Sun Miao lying on a wicker chair, his back to the door, with his legs crossed on the table.

In the corner of the wall, a projector shaped like a flashlight was casting at an angle, projecting fast-rotating images on the wall.

At a glance, the content seemed like a TV drama about immortals.

A pair resembling immortal companions were interacting in traditional costumes, exchanging blows.

In the room, the speaker spewed out mostly white noise alongside horrible sound effects and bad dialogues that weren't fitting for the low, medium, or high frequencies.

"Hong Xia, I've crossed the Heavenly River and slain the Devourer Whale for you, how can you leave without saying goodbye..."

"Hai Chen, just go. Stop following me. I have decided to join the Beast Taming Sect, to be with beasts for life, you and I are fated but not destined."

"Impossible! I won't listen, I won't listen..."

Ren Zhong felt goosebumps all over, stepped forward, and interrupted Sun Miao's bad taste, "Dr. Sun, hello, I'm here for a consultation."

Sun Miao didn't even turn around, "Find a cool place to hang around; I'm off duty today."

Ren Zhong's mouth twitched slightly; this doctor's temperament was quite something.

Can't it be that he has to be faint and dying before he would take action?

"Dr. Sun..."

Sun Miao suddenly turned his head, fiercely glaring, "Did I not say I'm off duty? Aren't you annoying? Can't you see I'm busy? Fine, if you insist on treatment, then pay extra. The treatment fee is three times the normal charge, will you take it?"

Ren Zhong was caught off guard on the spot.

He began to replay last time's process in his mind.

Two seconds later, Ren Zhong decided to honestly admit, "Sorry, I only have 0.8 Contribution Points."

"No money, what kind of treatment are you looking for, get lost."

Sun Miao waved his hands, making a shooing gesture.

Ren Zhong tried one last time, "Dr. Sun, please help me out, I'm in the late stage of lymphoma, I don't have many days to live."

Sun Miao's movements halted instantly.

"Hm?"

He thought he misheard.

After a moment, Sun Miao suspiciously asked, "Truly late-stage cancer?"

Ren Zhong nodded, "It might not be considered late stage, perhaps terminal."

Sun Miao snapped off the projector, no longer watching the drama, rubbed his chin in a difficult manner, "Let me think, ponder a bit. Well, since you're indeed in hardship, I'll be benevolent as a doctor, lie down on that chair first, I'll do a full-body scan for you."

Ren Zhong repressed his emotions, quietly observing Sun Miao's subtle change in attitude, while moving towards the reclining chair, asked, "Dr. Sun, is cancer treatment expensive? Do I have enough money?"

Sun Miao: "Of course not enough!"

Ren Zhong decided to take a gamble, got up as if to leave, feigned a pained expression, "Alas, then I'll come back when I've saved enough."

"What nonsense are you talking! Do I look like the kind to let someone die for a bit of money? If you're truly that sick, how could you save any money? Here's the deal, if you're really in late-stage cancer, no matter how much the treatment costs, I'll give you full credit, and you can pay it back when you have money. It's settled!"

While speaking, Sun Miao also pushed Ren Zhong onto the reclining chair.

Ren Zhong weighed the situation for a moment in his heart but was eventually ruled by the anxious mindset to get treated and complied by lying down.

...

Two minutes later, the projector previously used to play that melodramatic immortal series lit up again, displaying a 3D humanoid model of Ren Zhong's physical condition on the wall.

In the humanoid model, red patches representing the distribution of abnormal cells were scattered throughout his body along the lymphatic system, with red dots at certain lymph nodes so densely packed they formed shadows.

Sun Miao gasped, "Hiss! You're practically half-dead. How tough is your life? How can you drag on so much? What on earth have you been thinking all day?"

Ren Zhong awkwardly smiled, "I didn't think it would be this serious."

"Alright. Consider yourself lucky, I can treat."

The treatment that followed was mostly as Ren Zhong imagined.

Sun Miao first pushed a neuro-blocker into a vein on his wrist.

After waiting five minutes, when the blocker took effect, he had Ren Zhong pinch his own thigh, feeling nothing, and then injected the Abnormal Cell Eater Injection Liquid into the same venous puncture, plus took out a brown bottle.

"This is Nutritional Ointment, three times a day, take it with meals, finish in two days."

Sun Miao instructed.

"Hmm." Ren Zhong nodded, "Thank you. How much is the cost?"

"In total, it's 102 Contribution Points, give me seventy-two cents first, then write a promissory note."

"Okay."

Ren Zhong took the paper Sun Miao handed over, wrote the promissory note, then did as if to get up.

"Wait a minute, continue lying down, there's an Immune Correction Potion here as a free gift, it can enhance your immunity."

"Hmm? Okay."

Last time there was no mention of this Immune Correction Potion, Ren Zhong was puzzled, but followed the instructions.

Sun Miao calmly took a syringe filled with colorless liquid from the side and gave an injection to the side of Ren Zhong's neck.

Due to the neuro-blocker, Ren Zhong felt no pain, but watching Sun Miao surreptitiously hiding the syringe, he noticed a faint reddish tint inside.

Doubts surged within him at once.

A free Immune Correction Potion?

I doubt it!

You clearly extracted interstitial fluid from my occipital lymph node group!

You were sampling!

With exceptional intelligence from being raised in the lab during study, how could Ren Zhong not know, his heart flashed with thoughts.

Various ambiguous doubts quickly connected.

In an instant, Sun Miao's good image in his heart shattered to pieces.

"Dr. Sun, you… weren't giving me an injection just now, you were sampling, right? Wasn't the treatment done? Why still sample? Are my cancer cells useful to you?"

Sun Miao silently hid the syringe behind him, "Nothing of the sort."

"But I saw it, the liquid in the syringe didn't reduce, and there is part of the blood color spreading. The position you just pierced was my occipital lymph node group. I saw in the scan model, the cancer cell concentration there was almost the highest."

Sun Miao remained silent for two seconds, seeing it was impossible to conceal, he straightforwardly dodged, "Scram, scram, scram! You're cured now so get lost quickly, why so many damn questions."

Ren Zhong: "Dr. Sun, I'm just curious."

"What's there to be curious about! You're not a doctor, why know so much? Ow, no good! I ate something bad this afternoon, my stomach hurts! Hurts, hurts, hurts! Carry on. Goodbye!"

Seeing Ren Zhong couldn't be driven away, Sun Miao suddenly had an idea, pretended to clutch his stomach and went upstairs.

He ran away.

Ren Zhong astutely observed that this sly guy's finger joints clutching the sampling syringe turned white.

In fact, inside he was extremely exhilarated, like a lottery fan who just hit five million!

Ren Zhong thought, treating the disease is one thing, but you secretly sampling from me without a word.

Very suspicious.

During the last treatment, surely he had also sampled from the occipital lymph node group, but he never mentioned, and I didn't notice.

Actually, this wasn't a big deal, taking blood for tests during treatment seemed appropriate.

But he acted all sneaky, getting excited after succeeding in sampling.

Seems like things are not simple.

The value of my cancer cells probably isn't low.

I've been played!

Ren Zhong glanced one more time at the small table beside the recliner, where the promissory note still lay.

Leaving the clinic, Ren Zhong clutched the promissory note tightly in hand, secretly thinking, though it shouldn't count against a life-saving benefactor, being new, impoverished, getting established is truly difficult.

Sun Miao also shouldn't be someone hurting for money.

In this world, one cannot live as they wish, so, apologies.

Next time I must think of a way to earn from him, at least enough to obtain my first bucket of gold in Starfire Town!