Chapter 52: Harboring the Will to Die, Digging One's Own Grave, Sun Miao's Medicine

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It’s too bitter.

The scavengers suffer too much.

I suffer too much.

I’ve worked so hard, treading carefully with every step.

I’ve offended no one.

Since being deceived once, I even transformed myself from a scientific worker into an actor to face Bei Lihui.

I exhausted every means to please this world, and in the end, this is the fate I receive.

I will never accept it!

Ren Zhong loathed the world’s dreary sky.

He hated the numb and indifferent expressions on the faces of those watching the mother and child.

He hated the lingering shadows of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui.

He hated the shackles that perpetually bound every person in this world.

He hated those ever-present but forever unreachable carrots dangled before him.

He hated the endless, impenetrable rules.

He hated the judgment of the hunters, which hung overhead like the threat of death, ready to descend at any moment.

He hated everything about this world!

For the first time, he realized a person's rage could burn this fiercely.

He understood that at the extreme of anger, one’s response is not necessarily hysteria—it could be chilling indifference.

A deep darkness closed in, drop by drop.

The street corner where he stood was nearly devoid of light, as if he had become a black hole himself.

The hunters had already flown away, and the crowd that had dispersed earlier gradually gathered again.

No one paid attention to the corpse on the ground.

By morning, when the workday began, scavenger cleaners would naturally come to deal with the scene.

Now, as it was after hours, everyone was busy picking up odd jobs, with no time to spare.

Ren Zhong melted back into the crowd, heading towards the white walls at the town center.

Truthfully, he had anticipated much of what had happened today.

There are always clues in the course of things, hidden in countless details—he had noticed them early on.

But he could do nothing.

For one thing, he had just arrived in this world and had few options. The first team he encountered was Zheng Tian’s squad, the group he knew best. Their cooperation had been reasonably smooth—he couldn’t possibly abandon the known for the unknown and try to approach another scavenger team. Besides, his joining would inevitably make the team stronger, but choosing another wouldn’t necessarily yield better results. He might even get betrayed by his own people before the professional teams made a move.

Secondly, he had grown up in an era of peace and prosperity. Though cautious, his path had been too smooth, making him inevitably complacent and inclined to take things one step at a time.

Now, time had delivered its final answer.

A cold, ruthless smile gradually crept onto Ren Zhong’s lips.

Since there was no escape, he might as well dig his grave in advance and embark on a seemingly futile quest for revenge.

He had wanted to blend into the world as an ordinary person.

But the world had no room for him.

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Since that’s the case, I might as well lose my mind from this moment on.

I will reshape this world into something pleasing to my eyes!

...

Nine twenty-three at night.

Outside the Miraculous Hands Clinic.

The light in the clinic’s second-floor window was still on.

Knock, knock, knock.

Ren Zhong gently rapped on the door.

From the speaker hanging outside came Sun Miao’s furious roar.

“I don’t care who you are, get lost! I’m off the clock!”

Ren Zhong ignored Sun Miao’s threats and knocked again.

“Damn it, you’re not done yet? I’ll remember your face! Don’t ever think of coming here for treatment again!”

With a click, a box above the clinic’s door opened, and a camera lens poked out.

Ren Zhong quickly adjusted his mask, switched off the one-way transparency, and revealed his face. “Open up. It’s me.”

Sun Miao fell silent.

...

“I thought you were dead.”

“So you can finally rest easy and conduct your forbidden research?”

“Shut up! You promised me you’d never mention that again!”

Before Ren Zhong could reply, Sun Miao went on, “You’re here to ask for my help, right? No problem, you can stay here tonight. I’ll find a way to get you out tomorrow morning.”

Sun Miao had already learned from his patients that Ren Zhong was wanted.

But he didn’t care.

He wasn’t afraid of offending Lin Wang or Ma Da Fu over this.

Because the risks he carried were far greater, more terrifying.

Ren Zhong shook his head. “I’m done running. It’s pointless. The official warrant will come down sooner or later, and the hunters will kill me.”

Sun Miao fell silent for a few seconds.

Instinctively, he thought, Good news!

But ultimately, the old grouch didn’t laugh; instead, he sighed. “Who told you to lose your mind and pretend to be a census officer?”

Ren Zhong said, “What if I told you I never pretended? It was all in their heads. Would you believe me?”

Sun Miao shrugged. “Does it matter?”

Ren Zhong asked again, “True. So, if there was no census officer business, could you mediate the conflict between Lin Wang and us?”

Sun Miao shook his head. “Lin Wang would give me face in person—he doesn’t like to make enemies. But what’s the point? First, all your teammates are dead. Second, I’m a doctor, not some omnipotent god. Lin Wang is much stronger than you; he has ten thousand ways to quietly get rid of you. What can I do? Get your revenge for you? I’m just a doctor with no strength to tie a chicken.”

Ren Zhong nodded. “That’s true.”

Sun Miao: “So what’s your plan?”

Ren Zhong: “I heard you have stimulants that can unlock human potential?”

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Sun Miao nodded. “I do, but it’s pointless.”

“Give me some.”

“You’re not thinking of striking tonight, are you?”

“What else?”

“But you’re only a level-one professional.”

“As far as I know, Lin Wang and his people neither live in the communal sleep pods nor the villas inside the white walls. Their estate is built beneath the white walls, outside the citizen residential area. Lin Wang doesn’t allow any affiliated teams under him to produce level-two professionals, which shows how paranoid he is. Excluding his five teammates, he has no reliable underlings. He wouldn’t trust his nightly safety to hired level-two or level-three professionals. As for his teammates, all are level-four professionals—they hunt during the day, so they can’t stand night watch. So, the professional team’s night defenses rely on an automated armed system, right?”

Sun Miao shrugged, then nodded, “Yes, your analysis makes sense. But you’re dreaming. They once paid a fortune to have me treat injuries at their estate. I saw it then—they use third-generation Iron Curtain automated defense systems. Anyone below level three will die, no matter how many go in. Even a level-three professional has less than a fifty percent chance of making it. So your analysis is ultimately worthless.”

“That’s why I need your drugs. Give me an overdose.”

“What? You want more?”

“Of course!”

“Are you really so eager to die?”

“Do I have a choice? If I don’t kill them, I die. If I do kill them, they’re minions of Spark Resources, so I’ll die tomorrow anyway. Either way, I’ll die, so I’d rather die with no regrets.”

Sun Miao contemplated for a moment. “Fine, I can give you a fatal tenfold dose. But you have to pay. Cost price: five hundred points.”

Ren Zhong spread his hands. “No money.”

Sun Miao exploded, “Again!? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“A drug that guarantees my death—isn’t that exactly what you’ve been hoping for?”

Sun Miao gritted his teeth. “But even if I don’t give it to you, you’ll die tomorrow anyway!”

“I’ve set up auto-posting. With a single thought, our scandal will appear on the Virtual Life Community Forum.”

“Damn you!”

As he watched Ren Zhong’s figure disappear through the door, a complex light flickered in Sun Miao’s eyes.

This unstable time bomb was finally going to die.

Though he’d been extorted once more, it was surely a good thing.

Yet Sun Miao didn’t feel happy.

After a long while, he slammed the door shut and muttered to himself, “Damn, could it be I’ve developed feelings for this scoundrel from being extorted too much? Shit!”

At this moment, Ren Zhong was quite satisfied.

According to Sun Miao, after injecting a tenfold overdose, he would become extremely excited, his brain’s sharpness rising more than ten times above normal.

In short, his brain response index would leap from the current 52.9 to 529, far surpassing the three-hundred threshold for a level-three mech warrior.

His physical abilities would also improve significantly, far exceeding the standard of any 21st-century athlete.

This state would last about six hours.

At the end of the drug’s effect, his last drop of mental power would burn out in a brief frenzy, after which he would swiftly fall into shock and die.

Not even the most advanced molecular reconstruction device on Origin Star could bring him back.

That was exactly what he wanted—a way to eliminate any risk of being captured alive and tortured.