Card Room

Chapter 347 - Mysterious Man

The country road was dark. Yu Hanjiang used the moonlight to identify the direction. He had just walked two kilometers when dark clouds covered the night sky. This was followed by a flash of lightning splitting the sudden darkness. There was the sound of thunder in his ears and rain poured down. His entire body was soaked in an instant.

Yu Hanjiang didn’t have an umbrella with him but he didn’t care about getting wet from the rain. He used the roadside branches as a foothold. In the rainstorm, the man flew forward like a phantom. His speed was several times faster than that of a fully powered sports car. He had to race against time to find Xiao Lou as soon as possible. Once he confirmed the safety of Xiao Lou, Ye Qi and Old Mo, Shao Qingge’s group of four could find a way to escape.

It only took 5 minutes before Yu Hanjiang arrived at the first fork in the road. He had already kept the map of the village in mid. He just had to turn left on this road and after 10 kilometers he would arrive at Qinghe Village.

In the dark rainy night, Yu Hanjiang couldn’t see his surroundings clearly. Yu Hanjiang didn’t dare use any lighting tools in case it attracted the kidnappers’ attention. He continued to move forward in the darkness and soon, some faint lights appeared in his vision. He arrived in Qinghe Village and found there were two or three families staying up late. Their lights were still on.

Yu Hanjiang jumped down from the branches and observed the surrounding environment with the help of the faint light.

Qinghe Village was surrounded by a plum blossom forest. No matter what direction the kidnappers entered from, they would be covered with the scent of plum blossoms. The rainstorm had knocked down many petals and the air was mixed with the fragrance of plum blossoms and the smell of earth.

The area of the village was very large and he had to find the place where Xiao Lou was imprisoned as soon as possible. Yu Hanjiang quickly entered the village and moved along the main road. There was only the sound of a dog barking not far away as well as the sound of rain.

The large amount of rain interfered with the effect of the bug. Perhaps it was because the location of the bug was still more than 500 meters away from him but Yu Hanjiang still didn’t hear any sound from it. He continued to explore the village while asking Xiao Lou, “It’s raining outside. Can you hear the rain?”

“It’s raining?” Xiao Lou pricked up his ears to listen and frowned slightly. “I can’t hear it.”

He couldn’t hear such a heavy rain? It showed that there were no windows at Xiao Lou’s location and it wasn’t an ordinary house. Otherwise, the sound of the rain on the roof would be heard.

“You can’t hear it at all?” Yu Hanjiang confirmed it again.

“Yes, it is very quiet where I am and there is no sound.” He paused and asked in his mind, “Where are you?”

“Based on the plum blossom fragrance you mentioned, I locked onto Qinghe Village and I’m there now.”

Yu Hanjiang glanced at the surrounding buildings.

Xiao Lou couldn’t hear the rain so it was impossible for it to be an ordinary villager’s house. It was because the villagers here lived in large courtyards, one-storey bungalows and the houses had basic windows. The rain was so heavy that those inside the house must be able to hear it.

Unless...

Xiao Lou was locked up in a dark basement.

A basement was a closed space with no windows and no direct connection to the outside world. Therefore, the sound of rain couldn’t be heard. The concrete floor, iron door and closed space described by Xiao Lou did indeed conform to the characteristics of a basement.

In order to imprison Xiao Lou, Ye Qi and Old Mo in separate rooms, the basement area must be very large. The bungalows of the villagers generally didn’t have basements. Where would Xiao Lou be?

Yu Hanjiang frowned and thought for a moment. He continued to search around the main road of the village to see if there were any larger buildings here. He flew high into the sky and saw that there weren’t any obvious high-rise buildings around. There were only single-storey bungalows.

The moment he was flying along the main road to the end of the village, a flash of lightning suddenly struck in the sky. In the dark night, the lightning pierced the sky like a sharp knife. Under the dazzling white light, a three-storey building unexpectedly appeared in front of him.

The lightning only lasted a short two seconds and the surroundings fell into darkness again. Still, the scene that flashed by just now was clearly engraved in Yu Hanjiang’s eyes.

It was a newly completed building. There was no time for the exterior to be painted so the concrete walls looked extremely cold under the torrential rain. The building area was very large and it was possible to build a basement of the same size. Moreover, the back of this building happened to have a large area of plum blossom trees.

Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath and approached the building stealthily. There was noise from the rain pounding on the building but the sound of the outside environment was different from the sound of the bug, which still didn’t transmit any sounds. Yu Hanjiang flew directly to the rooftop of this building with the light footwork card. Then he drew two cards from his card pack. It was the Night Devil Saber and a glock pistol.

Once he was ready, he whispered in the heart channel. “Xiao Lou, cooperate with me.”

Xiao Lou immediately replied. “Yes, say it.”

“If there are no accidents, I should be on the roof of your building right now. Xiao Ye left me the bug. Try to make some noise and I will see if I can hear it.”

If he could hear it then it proved Yu Hanjiang had found the right place. The surrounding area of the building was very empty and there were no other disturbances. There was a large plum blossom forest behind it and it was impossible for anyone to hide in this plum blossom forest in the middle of the night in the heavy rain. Yu Hanjiang was on the roof of the building. 500 meters vertically and horizontally could just cover the entire building.

Xiao Lou quickly understood what Yu Hanjiang meant. He cleared his throat and shouted, “Is anyone there? Is anyone there?”

At the same time, Xiao Lou’s voice came from Yu Hanjiang’s bug. The sound was very far away, like a reverberation after passing through an open corridor. It didn’t sound real but it was definitely from a distance within 500 meters.

In other words, Xiao Lou was in this building. Yu Hanjiang’s eyes narrowed. He found the place where the hostages were being held!

Xiao Lou asked in his mind, “Can you hear me?”

Yu Hanjiang flew down from the roof, moving lightly while groping around the edge of the building. He told Xiao Lou, “I heard it. Keep talking so I can determine your position clearly.”

Xiao Lou shouted, “Is anyone there? I want to go to the bathroom!”

Yu Hanjiang held the gun in his hand, bent over and advanced quickly in the direction of the sound.

Sound came from far to near. Then the sound of leather shoes stepping on the concrete floor was heard from the bug. A man stepped forward and pinched Xiao Lou’s chin with his cold fingers, a hint of mocking in his voice. “Dr Xiao, do you want to go to the bathroom? I would rather see what you look like when you accidentally pee in your pants.”

The corners of Xiao Lou’s mouth twitched slightly. He tried to look away but the other person pinched him very tightly. That person’s fingers were cold and it felt like a poisonous snake was wrapped around him.

Xiao Lou’s feelings were transmitted through the connection to Yu Hanjiang. Yu Hanjiang’s expression sank and he immediately quickened his pace.

Judging from the volume changes in the bug, Xiao Lou was far away from the bug at first. His shouting had been a bit fuzzy. Then the man approached and his voice became unusually clear. Obviously, Ye Qi had placed the bug on this man.

Yu Hanjiang whispered in his mind. “Talk to him to delay time. I’m coming to rescue you straight away.”

Xiao Lou endured the discomfort of his chin being pinched and asked with a frown, “Who are you? Why did you bring me here?”

“Who am I? Dr Xiao is very forgetful.” The man spoke lightly. “You were investigating Cheng Shaofeng and Lin Rongrong everywhere in the hospital. I told you so many clues but you haven’t figured out who Brother Rong is?”

Xiao Lou always thought this voice was familiar but he couldn’t remember where he heard it. It wasn’t until the last sentence that he finally understood.

There was only one person who knew he was in the hospital to check Cheng Shaofeng and Lin Rongrong and that he left the hospital today—it was the doctor colleague from the general surgery department, Li Ran.

He remembered at that time, Xiao Lou found that his colleague Li Ran was a classmate of Lin Rongrong. He pretended to chat and went to Dr Li to inquire about Lin Rongrong’s situation. The other side had smiled and said, “Of course I know Lin Rongrong. He and I were university roommates.”

Dr Li not only cooperated with Xiao Lou’s questions but also gave Xiao Lou a friendly introduction to Lin Rongrong’s situation, including Lin Rongrong’s failure to continue his studies after he was admitted to graduate school, his mother’s death from uremia and so on.

Now it seemed this man was the ghost hiding in the hospital!

Yu Hanjiang was shot and admitted to the VIP ward of the general surgery department. Li Ran was a general surgery doctor. He naturally knew that Officer Yu was shot in the abdomen and that the killer sent to kill Cheng Shaofeng had gotten the wrong target. Then he was likely to report this to his superiors who wanted to kill Cheng Shaofeng.

In the pediatric ward, Chen Yuqing died of a heart attack. On the day that Chen Yehua picked up her daughter’s body from the hospital, Cheng Shaofeng wanted to take his lover to escape. Li Ran was the spy in the hospital and the organization knew that Cheng Shaofeng was running away. They set up a driver to ambush him on the highway and directly hit Cheng Shaofeng’s vehicle.

Xiao Lou’s investigation at the hospital had actually aroused the suspicion of the organization. On the surface, Li Ran cooperated with Xiao Lou and told him details about Cheng Shaofeng, Lin Rongrong and others but he ignored one thing. Cheng Shaofeng and Lin Rongrong had a very good relationship. Then what about Li Ran? As Lin Rongrong’s roommate, Cheng Shaofeng must’ve come to his dormitory every day. What was Li Ran’s relationship with him?

Xiao Lou thought up to here and couldn’t help feeling annoyed. He was too careless. He asked his colleague about the suspect but he ignored the fact that his colleague himself might also be a suspect!

Yu Hanjiang consoled him, “It isn’t your fault. Li Ran hid too deeply. I also didn’t expect him to be a member of the organization.”

Xiao Lou said in his mind, “Li Ran, Lin Rongrong and Cheng Shaofeng must be a group. My guess is that Li Ran is responsible for the handover work at the hospital to ensure the smooth progress of the organ transplant operation. Meanwhile, Lin Rongrong harvests the organs at the illegal clinic and sends them to the hospital. They might share the same ideals in some aspects.”

“It makes sense.” Yu Hanjiang followed Xiao Lou’s analysis. “In regular hospitals, if the source of the organs isn’t clear then doctors won’t rush to perform transplants. However, Shao Qingge and Cheng Shaofeng had transplants at your hospital. I checked carefully and found that the source of the organs is reasonable and legal. There was also the signature of the donor. These things must’ve been forged by Li Ran.”

Xiao Lou agreed. “For example, Chief Shao’s kidney appears to come from a prisoner on death row and there are the signatures and fingerprints of the prisoner on the certification materials. Yet in fact, Chief Shao’s kidney comes from the takeout deliveryman, Wang Wei. It is likely that Dr Li is in charge of forging the materials.”

In this way, the entire chain of division of labor of the organ trafficking organization was complete.

Lin Rongrong suffered a blow because his mother died of uremia. He thought that studying medicine couldn’t even save his loved one. Rather than continuing with medical school, he went to the extreme and joined the illegal clinic to be responsible for the organ harvesting. His insufficient surgery experience meant that some organ transplant patients were left with severe side-effects and even died of organ failure.

Zhu Qingrong of the obstetrics and gynecology department had his doctor’s qualification revoked due to an error during surgery that resulted in the death of a pregnant woman. He spent several years in prison and after being released from prison, he might’ve joined the organization to be responsible for the egg retrieval part of the operation.

Li Ran was the transfer staff inside the hospital. He could send the data of patients who needed an organ transplant to the organization to find a matching type. After finding a suitable matching organ, he could forge the legal source of the organ and pretend that the organs came from death row prisoners’ donations or social donations. The signatures of the family, donors and other formalities were readily available and the hospital could perform operations on patients without any worries.

Others like Rong Cheng, the boss of the pharmaceutical company and Song Xiaoqing, the boss of the equipment company, were probably responsible for the organization’s funds. He Rong was responsible for money laundering which was why he had a lot of strange real estate transactions.

Qi Zhaoming who died from unrelated issues in the hospital, Yu Fugui and others in jail might be minions of the organization. As ‘hunters’, they looked for targets they could harvest organs from. They would deliberately look for orphans who wouldn’t attract people’s attention if they went missing or poor people who were in dire need of money, encouraging these people to sell their organs for money.

Uncle Zhong and Cheng Shaofeng were likely to be high level people in the organization who knew secrets so they were silenced.

The careful analysis of Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou based on the clues so far meant that members of this huge illegal organization had gradually surfaced. However, they still had no clue about the biggest boss of the organization.

Xiao Lou’s voice came from the bug. “You have my phone with you, right? Now that you know we are investigating the organ trafficking case, you have captured my friends?”

Li Ran laughed. “That’s right. All members of your WeChat group will be here soon.”

The sound from the bug was close at hand. Xiao Lou and Li Ran were obviously nearby. Yu Hanjiang stopped, stepped into the building, went down the stairs and found a door locked by an iron chain.

Yu Hanjiang was wearing black clothes and was very careful when lurking in the dark. He couldn’t rule out the possibility of infrared cameras in the basement. If he was exposed then it was likely to anger the other party and bring danger to Xiao Lou’s group of three.

Yu Hanjiang decisively put on the invisibility cloak, found a slender iron wire and gently stuffed it into the keyhole. There was a slight click as the lock was opened. Yu Hanjiang entered the basement and quickly restored the iron chains.

There was a faint light in the corridor of the basement. At the end of the corridor, there was indeed a pinpoint-sized red light flashing. It was a surveillance camera aimed at the corridor. Fortunately, Yu Hanjiang was wearing an invisibility cloak and the other side couldn’t see him on the surveillance. The empty basement seemed extremely quiet.

Yu Hanjiang followed Xiao Lou’s voice from the bug. The structure of the basement was similar to the underground labyrinth of Antai Garden, with criss-crossing corridors and closed rooms.

He didn’t know what was in the rooms and Yu Hanjiang didn’t dare to rush forward for the time being. He used his memory of the previous map to move quickly. After turning left and right and going around several corridors in a row, he finally found the original key room of Antai Garden—number 201.

The door of the room was open.

There were lights on in the room but it was very dim. Yu Hanjiang turned to look and found Xiao Lou sitting on the concrete floor with his eyes covered by a black cloth and hands tied tightly behind him. A man was leaning over and pinching Xiao Lou’s chin with his fingers.

A sharp light flashed in Yu Hanjiang’s eyes and he strode behind Xiao Lou. The next moment, Xiao Lou’s voice rang out in his ears. “You are bringing us all over just to kill us? Just like you killed Cheng Shaofeng and Uncle Zhong?”

Li Ran smiled. “Not necessarily. Perhaps there might be buyers who need hearts and kidneys. If you are matched then you can save lives before you die. Dr Xiao, do you want us to remove your left kidney or your right kidney?

Xiao Lou got a chill down his back as he listened. These crazy bastards, they wanted to sell their organs for money?!

Just then, Li Ran’s phone lit up and a message appeared. Li Ran let go of Xiao Lou’s chin and stood up, telling him coldly, “I have work to do. Dr Xiao, if you really want to go to the toilet, I can only wrong you to settle it on the spot.”

Then he turned and left. Xiao Lou wanted to stop this person when he felt a familiar breath approaching him. Xiao Lou was blindfolded and unable to see anything so he was puzzled. Suddenly, his shoulder was gently held by a hand and Yu Hanjiang’s voice was heard through the mind connection. “It’s me.”

Xiao Lou’s heart thumped.

Li Ran didn’t notice that Yu Hanjiang came in. There was only one explanation—Yu Hanjiang was wearing the invisibility cloak. Xiao Lou immediately expressed in his mind that he understood.

Yu Hanjiang told him, “This is an underground labyrinth that isn’t any different from Antai Garden. There is infrared surveillance everywhere, including the corner of the room where you are detained. I still don’t know where Xiao Ye and Old Mo are. If I save you rashly and the other party sees you leaving on the surveillance, it is likely they will immediately act against Xiao Ye and Old Mo.”

“I understand,” Xiao Lou spoke in his mind. “Then find them first and make sure they are safe.”

“Yes, your hands are tied and there is no way for you to use your cards. I will help loosen them. Wait until I confirm the location of Xiao Ye and Old Mo so they can use their cards to save themselves. Then I will save you.” Yu Hanjiang went around behind Xiao Lou. He avoided the direction of the camera and neatly cut the rope that bound Xiao Lou’s hands with a knife.

“Okay.” Yu Hanjiang came to Xiao Lou and examined him carefully.

Xiao Lou’s lips were dry and cracked. It was probably because he had been tied up for several hours without drinking any water. His eyes were covered by a black cloth, making his face slightly pale. His thin chin had red marks from when Li Ran pinched him with too much force just now. His wrists were bruised due to the tightly tied rope, his arms were bruised from the concrete floor and the skin on the back of his hand was torn and bleeding.

Yu Hanjiang’s eyes narrowed.

This group of people hadn’t abused Xiao Lou but they definitely weren’t gentle. They must’ve thrown Xiao Lou onto the ground like a sack of potatoes and roughly tied him up. Therefore, Xiao Lou had bruises all over his body.

Yu Hanjiang felt distressed when he saw it and couldn’t help reaching out his arms to gently hug Xiao Lou. His voice was soft as he said, “You were wronged.”

Xiao Lou couldn’t see but he could clearly feel this hug. Yu Hanjiang’s body was particularly cold due to being wet from the rain, but Xiao Lou’s heart warmed up the moment he was held in these arms.

His hands were tied behind his back. The rope might be cut but he didn’t dare hug back since there was a surveillance camera in the room. Yu Hanjiang might be wearing an invisibility cloak but Xiao Lou wasn’t wearing one. He could only sit on the ground and obediently let Yu Hanjiang hug him gently.

Xiao Lou wasn’t very embarrassed. He just thought that Yu Hanjiang’s hug was comforting. His ears were slightly hot and he said quickly in his mind, “I’m fine. Go find Xiao Ye and Old Mo.”

Yu Hanjiang released his embrace, gently shook Xiao Lou’s finger and whispered, “Yes, wait for me to come back.”

The moment Li Ran was about to close the iron door, Yu Hanjiang rushed out like lightning.

Li Ran felt like a gust of wind blew around him. He turned his head suspiciously but found that the lights were dim and there was no one in the corridor. Nevertheless, he always felt a sharp gaze on his back like a hunter staring at prey.

Li Ran scratched his head and picked up his mobile phone. “Watch the surveillance well. Don’t let them be rescued!”

The author has something to say:

Yu Hanjiang’s death gaze →_→

Li Ran: ???

Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality