Chapter 56: Not Dead

The wailing sirens of the ambulance pierced the tranquility of the night.

At another high-end hotel, Xie De lit a cigarette and puffed clouds of smoke on the balcony. The sweet scent of the ladies' cigarette was dispersed by the night breeze. From his high vantage point, he watched the ambulance fade into the distance, his gaze withdrawing.

"Why are you following me?"

Hu Songlin was squatting in the corner by the door, refusing to be shooed away no matter what. Whenever told to leave, he would look at Xie De with pitiful eyes. He didn't look very old either, probably a year or two younger than the protagonist.

"I don't know, my mission is complete. Right now, I just want to stay by your side. Maybe I can help you."

Ugh... this gave a strong sense of déjà vu. Having just sent off the little villain, villain number 2 was already sticking to him.

"How did you find me?"

Hu Songlin told him the truth.

"I randomly picked a city to stroll around in, took two steps, and saw you."

Ah, damn this Emperor of Luck.

Xie De leaned against the balcony railing. When he entered the room, he had taken off his jacket and earphones, so now he could only take out his phone to look. Feeling somewhat curious, he asked a question.

"Gibberish, Hu Songlin is a villain, right? He's so strong, how exactly did the protagonist kill him?"

Gibberish started rummaging through the plot again, and after a long while, he said, "Um, we don't have this part of the plot. But judging from what happens later, although the villain's cheat is huge, the protagonist's cheat must be even bigger!"

"Then exactly how many cheats does the protagonist have? And how big are they?"

Gibberish feigned profundity.

"How many? A lot. How big? Very big."

What a load of nonsense literature.

"Gibberish... you piece of trash."

Gibberish was indignant and retorted.

"You call me trash, but without me, you would have died long ago. I'm also a cheat, okay? For a cannon fodder like you to even have one cheat is already pretty good. Let's not call the kettle black. At most, we're half a pound and eight ounces [1] and you're the half a pound, I'm the eight ounces."

"Oh ho, quite narcissistic, aren't you, little system. Have you tracked down the main system yet?"

"..."

Gibberish gave him the middle finger.

Xie De chuckled softly. Just as he put his phone away, Hu Songlin's voice came from behind him.

"Are you injured?"

Turning his head, he found that at some point, Hu Songlin was already standing behind him, looking up at him with a very serious expression.

"Last time, I observed that you're used to smoking with your right hand, but this time you're using your left. Your right hand seems to be lacking strength. You were shot, right in the shoulder-arm area, right?"

...Not only an Emperor of Luck, but also a Sherlock Holmes.

"It has nothing to do with you."

"But you shouldn't smoke when you're injured..."

"Get lost."

Xie De's originally decent mood was disturbed. His tone was definitely not nice. He was thinking to himself: Now you're managing me too?

Gibberish also seized the opportunity to chime in, "Oh right, you shouldn't smoke when you're injured..."

"You shut up too."

Being scolded, Hu Songlin didn't retreat. He continued muttering aggrievedly, "The nicotine and other harmful substances in cigarettes will cause blood vessels to constrict, reducing the blood supply to the wound, which in turn affects the delivery of oxygen and nutrients, making it detrimental to wound healing and tissue repair..."

Xie De expressionlessly snuffed out the cigarette.

"Stop chanting, aren't you annoying?"

Hu Songlin instantly stopped looking aggrieved. His eyes sparkled as he smiled, looking like a cat that had successfully stolen a fish.

"Tsk," annoying guy.

Xie De grabbed Hu Songlin by the clothes and threw him out of the room.

"I'm going to sleep, get lost."

"Then..." Hu Songlin stumbled and almost lost his footing. He hurriedly turned around, only to see a tightly closed door. He reached out his hand and spoke softly.

"Goodnight."

............

Outside the hotel, after the ambulance passed, the wailing of a police car echoed through the night sky. At the murder scene, police officers were maintaining order.

"We found a lethal dose of aconitine in the victim's body. The victim also drank quite a lot of alcohol prior to this, which accelerated the time it took for the aconitine to take effect. This is not something ordinary people can easily get their hands on; this is definitely murder."

The policewoman, Mei Manshan, pondered, "Captain, who do you think could have done this?"

"This case is a bit tricky."

Wang Yi frowned tightly. He was in his early 30s, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and regular features. At this moment, he was constantly stroking his chin.

"We first need to look at the victim's social network. There aren't many people who would think of using poison to kill someone, and even fewer who could acquire it. I figure the grudge has been held for a long time. Does the victim have any enemies?"

Mei Manshan shook her head.

"I don't know, it's still under investigation. But I heard the victim this time is a CEO, so it might be related to a corporate war. It's likely a major case."

While they were talking.

A police officer who had gone off to question and investigate came rushing back excitedly.

"Captain! I just went around asking questions, and I made a huge discovery!"

"This victim was a total skinflint. A few years ago, a massive fire broke out in his factory. Because he was afraid the workers would slack off, he forcibly tied them to the machinery, which directly resulted in the deaths of all the workers. He went in and served five years, but those workers were student laborers. The parents of those students probably hate him to the core, every single one of them is a suspect."

Mei Manshan scoffed.

"Then he deserved to die."

Wang Yi shot her a disapproving look.

"He did indeed deserve to die, but the murderer cannot escape the sanctions of the law either. All I know right now is that if this is really the case, our workload is going to skyrocket."

Mei Manshan's face immediately fell.

"Sigh, with the deceased's complicated web of relationships, who can figure it out?"

"Hey! Sister Mei," a young police officer nearby suddenly spoke up, "Not deceased. He was resuscitated."

"Huh? They actually managed to save him from that? Has modern medicine gotten this badass?"

Mei Manshan had a look of disbelief on her face.

Xie De also had a look of disbelief.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! A full six milligrams, that exceeds the lethal dose, and he even drank all that alcohol! How could he not be dead?"

Ingesting a full six milligrams of aconitine is actually not much different from drinking Paraquat [2], both cause irreversible bodily damage. If he could survive even this, it's a bona fide medical miracle! Since when did modern medicine become this badass?

Gibberish was also flipping through the data with a headache.

"But… but… he's really not dead. It's so weird."

Xie De sat on the bed and wanted to smoke again, but tragically discovered that the one he had just snuffed out was his very last cigarette. Damn it.

It's reasonable to suspect that Hu Songlin's Emperor of Luck status was at work here. Because he didn't want Xie De to smoke, Xie De ran out of cigarettes.

He really wanted to drag that guy over and give him a beating.

"How could he not be dead?" Xie De thought about it, then gave up thinking.

"Consider him lucky. I'll just have to kill him again."

...Meanwhile…

Since the victim wasn't dead and was reportedly conscious and clear-headed, the police wanted to go to the hospital to talk to him.

Unfortunately, right after the victim woke up, he immediately went home and refused to open the door for anyone. He locked himself tightly inside his house, acting as if he were insane.

——

[1] we're half a pound and eight ounces — equal matching

[2] Paraquat — a highly toxic quaternary ammonium herbicide used primarily for weed and grass control. Because of its extreme toxicity and the lack of a specific antidote, it is classified as a restricted-use pesticide in many countries.