Chapter 40: Practicing Medicine Cannot Save Bientana

Only Li Guanqi and Miki remained in the ward, and an awkward atmosphere began to permeate the room.

"Um..." Li Guanqi opened his mouth slightly, trying to break the tension.

"Wait a second!" Miki pulled out a thumb-sized detector, stuck it onto Li Guanqi’s hand, and said sternly, "If your sanity drops to 60%, make sure to tell your buddy here."

Slowly, he even began to recite modern poetry.

"If life deceives you."

"Do not be sorrowful, do not be impatient."

"In gloomy days, be calm; believe that happy days are coming."

He was coaxing him as if he were lulling a child to sleep, acting with extreme caution for fear that Li Guanqi might have a breakdown on the spot and tear him to pieces.

Li Guanqi was baffled by what he heard and asked softly, "What crime did I commit?" He truly had no idea why Miki was so afraid.

"See for yourself." Miki tapped a few times on his super-computing ring and aimed the scanning window at the television screen in the ward.

The screen flickered to life, showing a gloomy wasteland.

Reporter Lin Yue stood behind a police cordon. Holding a microphone, her expression was grave, and her voice was low and powerful: "Citizens of Bianyuelong, we are currently at a crime scene in the border district. A brutal murder occurred here a short while ago."

The reporter’s voice came through the television, carrying a hint of unease and tension.

The camera panned to the scene; internal organs—hearts, livers, and kidneys—lay scattered across the ground. Agents from the Spirit Detention Bureau were busy searching for evidence, and coroners were examining the corpses.

"According to reliable sources, there were twenty-two victims in total. Four died in a vehicle accident, and the remaining eighteen had their internal organs removed. The state of the bodies is horrific."

Seeing the news report, Li Guanqi took a sharp breath and said with a trembling voice, "I... I did this?"

"This, well, it counts as self-defense, right!"

"They struck first. I still remember being beaten."

He did not want to be held responsible for eighteen lives.

"Don't worry about that; the lives of the illegal taxi gang don't matter," Miki explained. "It doesn't matter if it was self-defense or not; there are no trials for killing members of the illegal taxi gang."

"The key is—"

"Where did you hide the card?"

He turned his head to look at Li Guanqi, his eyes narrowing into slits. As long as he got the answer to this question, he could close the case. And he, Miki, would earn three contribution points!

"What card? What are you talking about?" Li Guanqi frowned and asked.

"I knew it wouldn't be that easy to get it out of you," Miki sighed softly and explained, "People like you and me, the 'Dual-Shadowed,' all have a symbiotic card inside us, embedded in our hearts."

"It's a classic."

"Understandable..."

"Kill to take the card, like a blind box."

"Of course—" he immediately followed up, fearing he might agitate Li Guanqi, "Buddy, I'm not saying you're just slaughtering the innocent."

"Me, I'm just a lowly agent."

"If you manage to remember where the card is hidden, let your buddy know. If you can't remember, that's fine too."

"Do not be sorrowful, do not be impatient."

It was clear he was truly terrified; serving one's master is like living with a tiger. And how could he not be afraid of a ruthless character who could tear eighteen illegal taxi gang members apart with his bare hands?

"I really can't remember anything that happened after that," Li Guanqi shook his head and suddenly realized, "Could it be—"

"That my symbiotic card is incredibly badass?!"

"Impossible, that doesn't exist." Miki immediately poured cold water on him. "A symbiotic card is called a 'symbiotic' card precisely because its strength is tied to the host's ability."

"The stronger the host, the stronger the card."

"As for you, you're just a 'Wu-Yi,' low affinity, no dueling record, a good-for-noth—"

The word "loser" almost slipped out. He immediately corrected himself: "Buddy, you have a lot of room to grow."

"Think carefully."

"That night, did some master pass by and save you?"

Miki was still trying to fish for information; he really wanted to know where the card was hidden.

"Let's go out for a walk," Li Guanqi said, shaking his head. "Maybe I'll be able to remember something."

"That works too." Without a second word, Miki took out handcuffs to chain himself to Li Guanqi and handed him a face mask.

"I have to wear a mask? Is the air that bad?"

"Do you have any idea how popular you are? You've taken the top five spots on Bianyuelong's ten trending searches, even pushing my Angel's performance duel off the list."

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

1. #Number-coded Civilian League: One Player Takes Three#
2. #0748#
3. #Tore Eighteen Illegal Taxi Gang Members Apart#
4. #Ubel#
5. #Devil or Hero#

Li Guanqi never imagined that his first taste of fame would come from a duel and tearing apart a gang.

With their hands cuffed together, the two walked out of the clinic.

Li Guanqi discovered that the clinic was built on a bridge. To the left of the bridge was the Satellite District—dilapidated and desolate. A broken-down car sat by the bridge, white smoke rising from it as if it had just been in an accident and abandoned there.

To the right of the bridge was the Main City, filled with skyscrapers; even from hundreds of meters away, one could feel the prosperity.

The bridge connecting the Satellite District to the Main City was called the "Other Shore Bridge," and the clinic built upon it was the "Other Shore Clinic."

Looking at the word "Other Shore," the first things that came to Li Guanqi’s mind were not connections, dreams, religion, poetry, or unreachable distances.

The first thing that flashed through his mind was—

【Other Shore Black Angel - Gilber】

Diagnosis: Played too much Yu-Gi-Oh.

"Stop thinking about it." Miki saw Li Guanqi staring blankly and assumed he was hesitating about where to go. "You have no choice; you have to come with me."

Li Guanqi followed behind Miki, walking toward the prosperous Main City.

Clutching the fire crystals and electric crystals in his pocket, he transformed into a fountain of questions along the way.

"Why are the clouds in the sky curled up?"

"Did the 【Magic Eye of Time-Tearing】 invade the world?"

"Why is the river water black?"

"What are the prices for cards? Is three hundred thousand enough to buy a meta deck?"

"Does the Spirit Detention Bureau provide room and board?"

"Your name is Miki, so is there a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?"

Listening to his chatter, Miki surprisingly didn't find him annoying and patiently explained.

"This world is sick."

"Eighty percent of people are lurking with a disease called 'Dual-Shadow'."

"If your sanity rate drops below 50%, the disease breaks out."

"What do the doctors say?" Li Guanqi interrupted. "Can't you perform surgery to remove the card?"

Miki gave a bitter smile. "To perform a separation surgery, you need to know the name of the symbiotic card, you need inhibitors, you need a renowned doctor, you need money, and the card needs to have high spirituality."

"Take a guess at how many successfully separate?"

Li Guanqi immediately recalled a famous saying: "There is only one disease in this world—the disease of poverty."

"Even if you separate it, it's useless," Miki continued. "If the pathogen isn't removed, you'll just get infected again sooner or later."

"Pathogen?"

"Right, twelve pathogens. They're very troublesome; they automatically infect nearby ordinary people or cause the Dual-Shadowed to have an outbreak."

"These twelve pathogens formed an organization called 'Bell,' advocating for the destruction of the world."

"To purify these twelve pathogens, the Alliance established the Spirit Detention Bureau."

"I see." Li Guanqi suddenly understood. "How many have been caught so far? How many purified?"

"Caught two, purified zero."

"Why only two?"

"And one of those two turned himself in."

"Is it a crime to call the Spirit Detention Bureau useless?"

"If you think you can do better, you go."

"I can't. I'm a medical student."

"Medicine can't save Bianatana," Miki said earnestly.

Li Guanqi stopped in his tracks and asked softly, "Then what can save it?"

"Dueling—" Miki let out a long sigh, "Perhaps that can."