Chapter 8 —

"Sister Zhang, Sister Zhang, look! Isn't Brother Lin waking up?"

"It really is! That orc almost smashed Lin's head open. It's a miracle he's awake! It's just a pity about Liu; they still haven't found his body… Ah, sorry, I didn't realize it—Xiao He, I didn't mean to bring this up!"

"It's alright, Sister Zhang. Everyone in the association has been doing their best to find him… Speaking of which, Hongyu did it to save me—if I weren't so weak, he wouldn't have…"

"Ugh… So noisy. Where am I?" Listening to the incessant chatter of the women on either side of him, Lin Jiangxing slowly opened his eyes from the hospital bed.

Before his eyes were two extremely familiar women—He Yuanyuan, the intern he had been training, and Sister Zhang, the nurse who had taken care of him when he first started working and was hospitalized. "Wait, when did I get someone taken to the hospital? I don't have enough money for medical bills… Oh no, I'm going to work for nothing for years!"

Looking down at his hospital gown, Lin Jiangxing seemed to suddenly realize something. Ignoring the horrified looks from the two women beside him, he quickly got out of bed, put on his slippers, and prepared to run away.

"What a load of rubbish! Yuanyuan, you and Hongyu are really something! We only got a few punches from the orcs, we're not going to die! You two woke up early and didn't even wake me—you believe me, in the little time I've been lying here, several hundred Kyushu coins are gone!"

At this moment, Lin Jiangxing had completely forgotten what happened in the black market dungeon yesterday; his memory was still stuck on the night before last when he and his friends were beaten up by orcs after drinking.

Jumping off the hospital bed, Lin Jiangxing bounced around energetically a few times, discovering that not only was he not seriously injured, but he was even stronger than before he fainted. "I told you nothing was wrong! This association's hospital just loves to rip off superhumans!" Lin Jiangxing said as he approached He Yuanyuan. Seeing her pale face, he asked, "Yuanyuan, what's wrong? What happened? Speaking of which, where's Hongyu? I'm practically his master, and I've been awake for half a day, but he hasn't come to visit me..."

"Brother Lin," He Yuanyuan bit her lip, then suddenly broke down in tears, "Waaah... Hongyu, Hongyu, that night the three of us ate, he... he was killed by those beastmen—it's all my fault for being too weak, causing him to be distracted!"

"What?! Hongyu... dead?!"

Lin Jiangxing was struck dumb, frozen in place. He rubbed his eyes and pinched his thigh, trying to prove it was just a nightmare—but the pain was still sharp, and He Yuanyuan's clear cries pierced his heart like knives. "Yuanyuan, you, you can't joke like that! Hongyu is a superhuman, as strong as an ox. Last night, the three of us only had a few drinks and got beaten up a few times by those orcs, how could this be..."

He trailed off, his mind suddenly fogging up. Fragmented images flooded back: the jeers in the restaurant, the fight in the alley, the orcs' sneers... and then, everything stopped abruptly.

He shook his head, trying to recall, but all he remembered was being punched in the back of the head, and then everything went black as he passed out. "Brother Lin, it's true..." He Yuanyuan wiped away her tears, her voice trembling:

"That night, the three of us were surrounded and beaten by those orcs. You and Hongyu were badly beaten trying to protect me. Hongyu... he shielded me and was punched in the chest by an orc, and he... he stopped breathing on the spot.

I was also punched and fell to the ground, but my injuries weren't as severe. I only remember the orcs panicking, yelling that they were going to 'sell the three of us to the black market.' Later, probably seeing that we were still breathing, they kept us with them as hostages to help them escape the Nine Provinces Continent..."

Sister Zhang nodded, sighed, and added: "Later, you and Xiao He were found together in the work vehicle—however, three of the four orcs driving you were dead, and the remaining one had gone insane, still muttering..." "She kept muttering about things related to the black market..."

At this point, Sister Zhang looked around to make sure no one was around, then lowered her voice and continued:

"I heard from some of the investigators who passed by that those beastmen originally wanted to sell Xiao Liu's body on the underground black market... but the people on the black market aren't stupid. After comparing faces and checking identities, they found out Xiao Liu was a member of the association and refused to take him. Seeing they couldn't sell him, the beastmen simply destroyed the body to cover their tracks. Later, the black market's leader, probably afraid of getting into trouble, sent people to intercept and kill them on the way, and deliberately triggered the vehicle's alarm..."

After listening to Sister Zhang and He Yuanyuan's account, Lin Jiangxing slumped onto the hospital bed, his hands covering his head, his mind a complete mess—he and Liu Hongyu hadn't known each other long, but the guy was a good person, always calling him "Brother Lin," and even treating him to meals... Now, suddenly, they were separated by ****? “No, this can't be… Hongyu, he even said he'd invite me to the foot massage parlor…” Lin Jiangxing murmured to himself, his eyes gradually reddening.

He wasn't unfamiliar with ****; as a cleaner, he'd seen countless deaths in the Beast Rift incidents over the years—but this time was different. Liu Hongyu was his junior, someone he had genuinely cared for.

…

The ward fell silent, save for He Yuanyuan's sobs. Sister Zhang patted Lin Jiangxing's shoulder, gave him some instructions, and left, leaving only Lin Jiangxing and He Yuanyuan in the ward.

Looking at He Yuanyuan, still sobbing, Lin Jiangxing took a deep breath, suppressing his own grief, and comforted her:

“Yuanyuan, don't blame yourself too much. This isn't your fault, it's those damned beastmen's fault. Hongyu… sigh, I'll help you with his funeral arrangements. Let's get discharged first; staying here makes me feel suffocated.”

He Yuanyuan nodded in agreement. Afterwards, the two went through the discharge procedures together.

Looking at the identity card in his hand, which was nearly a million Kyushu coins in arrears, Lin Jiangxing sighed silently to himself—it was truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly; he would have to work for the association for free for several more years.

…………