Chapter 129: The Choice

“Violet Thunder Sky Escape” is a skill of linear, ultra-high-speed movement—wherever the eye can see, it can be traversed in the blink of an eye. However, the farther the distance, the more mana it consumes. Carrying another person increases the mana expenditure even more.

Fortunately, the city of Xinxiang is filled with tall buildings. Moving across rooftops often means taking the shortest path. With the help of wandering spirits guiding the way along the streets, Xiao Lu always manages to find the most suitable and shortest route.

About five or six minutes later, Xiao Lu arrived with Charles at the hospital mentioned over the phone.

Standing at the hospital entrance, Xiao Lu patted Charles on the shoulder. “Go inside quickly. I hope it’s not too late.”

Charles said nothing and dashed into the hospital like a gust of wind.

Xiao Lu followed slowly behind. Without carrying anyone, the five or six minutes of Violet Thunder Sky Escape wouldn’t make much difference, but with someone in tow, the mana consumption skyrocketed. Just barely, Xiao Lu's limited mana almost ran out, and he nearly got stuck atop a building.

After catching his breath, Xiao Lu saw Charles sitting outside the emergency room, holding his head. The red light above the emergency door flashed incessantly, casting a heavy, suffocating atmosphere.

“How is it?” Xiao Lu asked with a glance.

“Not good at all. The doctors said they did their best,” Charles replied, stripped of his usual slick tongue, answering only when spoken to.

“Can you tell me roughly what’s going on?” Xiao Lu knew that at this moment, all he could do was let Charles vent his emotions instead of bottling them up.

But Charles looked up at him instead. “Xihu, can you teach me how to defeat the enemy? I want to take that bastard down.”

“What happened?” Xiao Lu sensed there was more to the story.

Charles began recounting from the start. He had grown up in the slums of Xinxiang. If not for having a good mother, he would have fallen into gangs or become a drug dealer like many others from those neighborhoods.

It was a heavyset black woman named Elizabeth who had given Charles a positive role model, setting him on the right path. Although Shixi Branch was just a low-tier university branch, it was still a university. Graduating from there meant he could find a decent job and move out of the slums.

But just as Charles was about to make something of himself, Elizabeth suffered this tragedy. How could he not be heartbroken?

Most importantly, the doctors had just told Charles that Elizabeth was hit by a sports car. The driver fled after the accident. A passerby had rushed her to the hospital. If she had been brought in sooner, perhaps things wouldn’t have come to this.

Xiao Lu understood Charles’s feelings. He patted him on the shoulder, but wasn’t sure how to comfort him.

At that moment, the red light above the emergency room dimmed, and two doctors emerged. They shook their heads as they looked at Charles.

Seeing this, Charles, who had just stood up from the chair, collapsed onto the floor, hands clutching his head, wanting to cry but unable to.

Watching Charles like this, Xiao Lu’s heart clenched bit by bit. He felt a strong impulse to rush in and help.

But what help could he offer? Would he be willing to do it? Would he regret it?

Xiao Lu didn’t hesitate long. He strode up to Charles and kicked at him firmly. “Get up! What are you acting like? Sit up properly. I’ll see if there’s any hope left.”

Charles suddenly remembered Xiao Lu’s strange abilities. Like a drowning man clutching at a final straw, he grabbed Xiao Lu’s foot. “Xihu, please save her. She’s a good person.”

Xiao Lu shook him off, then pulled out his medical license. Facing the two doctors who had just come out, he said, “This is my medical license. My hand is injured, so I can’t practice medicine anymore. But can I go in and take a look? Maybe there’s still a way.”

“We’ve tried everything. Can you do better?” One doctor acknowledged Xiao Lu’s credentials but still trusted his own skills more.

“Western and Chinese medicine differ. Some traditional methods can activate the body’s vital energy. Maybe we can bring her back,” Xiao Lu explained.

The two doctors exchanged a glance. “Alright, you can come in. But this one doesn’t go in.”

Xiao Lu glanced at Charles and nodded in understanding. Then he turned to Charles. “Let go of me. Time is critical. If the brain is deprived of oxygen too long, even if we save her, she’ll be a vegetable.”

Charles immediately released his grip, allowing Xiao Lu to enter the emergency room.

Inside, Xiao Lu made no significant moves. A nurse led him aside to change clothes. That’s the nature of emergency rooms—if everything were handled like a high-end operating room, by the time the doctors arrived, the patient would be dead.

After changing, Xiao Lu was led to the central operating room. There, a plump black woman lay on the bed, her face covered by a white sheet.

Xiao Lu gently placed his hand on her body, feeling no rigor mortis. Without hesitation, he pulled out a “Revival Stone”—a rare purple resurrection artifact he had been saving for just such a moment.

Though he had only this one revival item, and had planned carefully for its use, seeing Charles’s usual self and the anguish just now, Xiao Lu activated the Revival Stone’s power.

He channeled an invisible purple light, pressing it to the woman’s forehead. Turning to the nurse who had followed in, he said, “I used acupuncture from traditional Chinese medicine. You need to use the defibrillator now.”

The nurse had spent a long time in emergency care and knew how to use the defibrillator—but she was skeptical that pressing the forehead was acupuncture. Did he think they were fools?

Though silently doubtful, she followed Xiao Lu’s instructions. When the defibrillator’s current shocked the woman, she suddenly sat up on her own.

The nurse screamed in shock. Nearby doctors rushed in to see what was happening.

Xiao Lu helped the woman lie back down and turned to the doctors. “She’s awake. From here on, she’s in your hands.”