Chapter 38 The Surgery Was a Success

From the moment of suffocation to the loss of consciousness, cardiac arrest, and brain death, there is generally a window of several minutes to over ten minutes. In medical terms, this is known as the "golden hour" for resuscitation.

But now—

Time has stopped.

Raindrops hang suspended in mid-air like silver needles. The bleeding of Qin Dongzhu and the other two has ceased, leaving a pool of blood and mud on the ground. In this eerie, isolated pocket of reality, Ma Lie and his dozen or so underlings are forcibly held in stasis by the power of the rules, unable to move a muscle.

Strictly speaking, it is a weak stasis; their thoughts and micro-expressions remain. Their eyes are filled with terror, pupils dilated, faces deathly pale, with cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

"Hello there." Li Guanqi walks slowly up to Ma Lie, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a small knife. Back at the transport vehicle, White Paper had shared half a biscuit with him and left behind this small blade. He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but looking closely now, it looks quite like a scalpel.

However, in the objective world, this knife does not exist; it exists only in Li Guanqi’s perception.

Sanity: 48 → 40%

"Hello, what seems to be the problem?" Li Guanqi looks up, clutching the scalpel, his eyes dull and lifeless.

Ma Lie, unable to move, stares at Li Guanqi’s half-closed hand. He gulps repeatedly, his heartbeat growing increasingly frantic. He watches the hand clutching at the air, and a sense of dread creeps into his heart. As he watches, a small knife suddenly appears in that half-closed palm!

The knife does not exist, but if one believes, it becomes real.

"Is your liver bothering you..." Li Guanqi whispers in a raspy voice.

*Pfft—*

He suddenly plunges the knife into Ma Lie’s abdomen. Blood sprays out, only to stop in mid-air, with only a small portion falling to the ground.

An intern, with poor technique.

The first strike hits a rib. After carving out a gash, he finally pierces the liver, twisting the blade clumsily around the wound until he extracts a small piece of liver tissue. Ma Lie’s eyes widen; he wants to scream but cannot make a sound, forced to clearly experience the excruciating agony.

"Not the liver..." Li Guanqi tosses the chunk of flesh aside and looks at Ma Lie again, his voice filled with concern. "Do you have a habit of smoking or drinking?"

Ma Lie’s face grows paler, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth. His robust physique allows him to withstand the trauma, but no matter how hard he struggles, he cannot break free from the invisible restraints. He cannot utter a single coherent word, only managing to emit groans of "uh" and "ah."

"I see," Li Guanqi says flatly, expressionlessly plunging the knife into Ma Lie’s abdomen once more.

That was the stomach.

"Ugh!" Ma Lie’s face and abdomen twitch violently.

"Not the stomach either." Li Guanqi digs out another piece of flesh and discards it, his voice tinged with confusion. "Is it the pancreas?"

"Or the kidney..."

He continues to guide the scalpel, the blade weaving back and forth through Ma Lie’s abdomen and chest. His technique is stiff and brutal; calling it the work of an intern would be an insult to interns. It is not an intern—it is a butcher.

Ma Lie stares fixedly at Li Guanqi, his eyes burning with rage that gradually fades into vacancy. His lips part slightly, and the hand holding his gun remains suspended in mid-air, trembling. He desperately wants to fire.

Li Guanqi’s naive, innocent head is right in front of the muzzle, less than half a meter away. He has no defenses, muttering to himself, deep in thought. Ma Lie’s gun-hand trembles violently, but he cannot summon the strength to pull the trigger.

The power of the two sides is not on the same level.

"Oh—" Li Guanqi cries out in sudden realization, clapping his hands happily like a child. "I know!"

"The heart!"

"It’s the heart!"

He is so happy, truly happy, giggling with glee.

Ma Lie shudders violently, a chill surging through his entire body. His eyes widen to the limit, his sanity plummeting below 50%. A Cursed Card writhes crazily on the outer layer of his heart, as if hiding countless maggots within. Yet, he remains unable to move; even his shadow cannot escape.

The power of the two sides is not on the same tier, or perhaps, not even in the same dimension.

"The patient today is so well-behaved." Li Guanqi, with a calm face, nonchalantly stabs the knife deep into Ma Lie’s chest.

*Pfft—*

Blood gushes out, splattering onto his glasses.

Then one stab, followed by another.

A scholar with no strength to truss a chicken may not cause much damage with a single blow, but he can—

One stab after another.

He is not in a hurry. He is not in the least bit of a hurry.

There is plenty of time.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Guanqi’s eyes light up. He carefully extracts a dark red heart from Ma Lie’s chest.

"Found it, found it..."

Under the gathering light, he laughs out loud and holds the heart high, as if offering a sacrifice to an evil god. The dozen or so members of the Black Car Gang watch the scene, their eyes losing all color, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

"A demon..."

"The boss..."

"Stabbed to death, one slice at a time..."

Their base’s overlord has been slaughtered by a "three-no" loser with a small knife, one stab at a time, like a child playing in the sand, until his heart was forcibly removed.

Ma Lie looks at his own heart, his face turning deathly white, feeling his body grow colder by the second. His pupils gradually lose focus, his trembling body slows to a halt, and he loses all signs of life.

Until the end.

He never managed to close his eyes.

"Hahaha... cured one!" Li Guanqi smiles, eyes squinting in delight, like a child who scored highly on an exam.

Scoring highly on an exam requires a reward.

He uses the knife to poke the heart repeatedly until he strikes something hard, producing a dull thud.

The reward is found.

Li Guanqi happily digs the object out, indifferently discards the heart, carefully washes the blood off the card, and holds it up to the light to admire it properly.

Cursed Card—[Great Gluttonous Beast of the Hundred Ghosts Rakshasa].

"Good stuff." A flash of ecstasy crosses Li Guanqi’s eyes.

He smiles faintly, turns to look at the Black Car Gang, his smile bright and filled with innocence.

"Do you guys have cards, too?"

"I’ll cure your illnesses, and you give me your cards, okay?"

Sanity: 40 → 35%

The members of the Black Car Gang shudder violently, gulping repeatedly, their eyes slowly widening. A lunatic—they have encountered a true lunatic! Every fiber of their being is resisting, yet they cannot utter a single "no."

As is well known, if there is no denial, it is consent.

"Thank you." Li Guanqi flashes a ghostly smile, walks slowly to the wrecked car, and crouches down. He tilts his head up to meet the gaze of a subordinate who is looking down.

*Boom—*

Lightning flashes, illuminating a sickly smiling face.

"Hello."

"What seems to be the problem?"

The noisy, rainy night echoes with the demon’s cordial greeting. Tang Xin, her consciousness fading, hears every word clearly.

...

...

Outside the imprisoned space, time flows normally, though a very few notice the anomaly.

In the "Mysterious Nine" group chat:

Swordsman: "What was that just now?"

Rabbit: "Global network time stopped for 0.5 seconds. Currently recalibrating."

"Which bastard did this? I have to work overtime again."

Mahjong: "Such a powerful fluctuation."

Rose: "What are you all chatting about?"

Mermaid: "Isn't the Shen District under your jurisdiction?"

Rose: "It is my jurisdiction. What happened?"

Mermaid: "If you weren't the group admin, you really should be kicked out."

Shadow Mist Lady: "What’s up?"

Blank: "Flower, go to the perimeter and provide support. The combat team’s vehicle sent a distress signal earlier."

Rose: "Okay."

"White Rabbit, send me a map."

Rabbit quickly sends a map of the perimeter of Bianyue Waterfall, plotting a route and highlighting several accident-prone spots in red.

At the "Afterlife Shop" in the Unknown Domain, the blue-eyed girl ponders for a moment before typing into the group chat: "That 0748... I’ll go give it a try."

As soon as this is sent, several messages flood the chat.

Shadow Mist Lady: "Huh?"

Rose: "Huh?"

Orange Cat: "Meow?"

Mermaid: "Is it worth it?"

Mahjong: "0748, is it related to this time fluctuation?"

Rabbit: "System evaluation: Risk is too high."

Machine: "Respect."

Swordsman: "The Shopkeeper’s swordsmanship is indeed unpredictable."

The King of Biantana has decided to personally go and test 0748.