Chapter 731: Jiaojiao 11

Not long after Chen Jiao left, Ye Rong, Yuan Sheng, and the others woke up one by one. The only one who didn’t stir was Zhang Ping. He was in the worst shape of them all; having muddled through the fame and fortune of the entertainment industry, his body had long been hollowed out by drink and debauchery.

Yuan Sheng clutched his chest, where the phantom of an excruciating pain seemed to linger. He shot Zhang Ping a vicious glare. "Wake him up. Find out what the hell happened."

Ye Rong’s face was grim. "I’ve spent my life hunting, only to get my eye pecked out by a hawk today. That little bitch is vicious. Wake him up. Let’s see what kind of person he brought us."

When the boss gave the order, the henchmen naturally scrambled to get to work. They were especially motivated, since they blamed Zhang Ping for the torture they had just endured.

Zhang Ping was sprawled out like a dead pig, but who was going to feel sorry for him? They were too busy feeling sorry for themselves.

Remembering the gut-twisting agony from moments before, the henchmen were in no mood to be gentle with Zhang Ping. One of them slapped him hard across the face. "Wake up! Get up!"

WHACK! WHACK!

The two hard slaps made Zhang Ping’s already pudgy face swell up even more, and a trickle of drool escaped the corner of his mouth. The others looked away in disgust. ’How repulsive!’

When Zhang Ping still didn’t wake, one of them went to the bathroom, filled a basin with water, and SPLASH! Doused him with it. The bone-chilling cold shocked Zhang Ping awake. He shot upright. "Who?!"

"Me!" Ye Rong sat on the edge of the bed, glaring daggers at Zhang Ping. "Is this what you called ’young and easy to handle’?"

Zhang Ping quickly scanned the room. Everyone looked completely drained, and they were all staring at him with undisguised hostility. ’What did I do? All I did was find Chen Jiao...’

’Right, where’s Chen Jiao?’ Zhang Ping scanned the room again. "Where’s Chen Jiao?"

"You still dare to mention her!" Ye Rong laughed, furious. "She played us for fools and took off long ago!"

The memories slowly came flooding back. A second later, he clutched his stomach, clearly recalling the excruciating pain from before he passed out. Panic filled his eyes. "Brother Rong, Brother Rong, what are we going to do?"

"What are we going to do? I’d like to ask you what we’re going to do!" Ye Rong sneered. "I don’t have time for anything else. We’re going to the hospital. I’m going to find out what the hell that stuff she gave me was!"

Yuan Sheng sat to the side, his expression grim. "I heard her mention some Intestine-breaking Pills and a Heart-devouring Pill. Even now, I feel an intense pain around my heart."

Ye Rong instinctively clutched his stomach. "It was my stomach. What about you guys?"

A dozen or so henchmen all chimed in at once. "My stomach..."

"My chest hurts... like I want to just rip my heart out..."

"It feels like a knife is twisting in my gut..."

Hearing the reports from his men, Ye Rong stood up. "Hospital. Now."

This crew of mob bosses had some pull. Even in the dead of night, they managed to get a full battery of tests done at the hospital without a hitch. But when the results came in, they all fell deathly silent.

Yuan Sheng clutched the stack of test results. "So there’s really nothing wrong?"

The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose. "The reports indicate that you’re all in perfect health. There’s nothing wrong at all."

Zhang Ping, terrified of dying, blurted out, "But our stomachs were killing us just a while ago! You can’t find a single thing?"

The doctor was getting tired of them; it was obvious they were bad news. He thought for a moment. "Western medicine can’t seem to find anything wrong. Why don’t you try seeing a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner?"

’Perfect,’ the doctor thought. ’Send them to a Chinese doctor and get this hot potato out of my hands!’

Zhang Ping said, "Brother Sheng, let’s find an old traditional doctor! What that little bitch gave us looked like Chinese medicine pills..."

Yuan Sheng shot him a look. "Shut up! Brother Rong... what do you think?"

Ye Rong had recovered some of his energy. "I know a traditional doctor. Let’s go see him."

The whole group left in a clamorous rush. The doctor watched them go, recalling what they’d said. ’Could it be they were double-crossed by a woman?’ he wondered. ’But physically, there’s nothing wrong with them at all. It’s very strange.’

Putting these questions aside, the doctor picked up his clipboard and began his nightly rounds.

No one would be in a good mood after being dragged out of bed at four in the morning, least of all the traditional Chinese doctor, Cai Guiyu. But his visitors were triad bosses. What could he do?

After taking Ye Rong’s and Yuan Sheng’s pulses in turn and reviewing the hospital reports, Old Cai fell into deep thought.

Ye Rong, ever the aggressive one, demanded, "What the hell is going on? Give us a straight answer!"

Old Cai looked up at him. Under the dim yellow light, the doctor’s eyes were unusually bright, as if he’d just encountered an unsolvable puzzle.

"According to these reports, there’s indeed nothing wrong with you—but that’s from a Western medicine perspective," Old Cai said softly after a long moment of contemplation. "As I see it, however, your vital energy has been severely damaged."

"You said the pain started at eleven o’clock and didn’t stop until one..." Old Cai asked, his curiosity piqued. "What did you ingest?"

Ye Rong was honest with the doctor. "I think I had some kind of powder. It was sweet and dissolved the moment it hit my tongue."

Yuan Sheng added, "I had a pill about the size of a small chocolate."

The other henchmen recounted their own experiences, and Old Cai began to get a clear picture. He tapped his fingers on the desk. "Many traditional formulas have been lost to time. However, there are also countless folk remedies."

"You’ve been played."

Ye Rong asked, "Is there a cure?"

Old Cai spread his hands. "If I knew the precise formula, perhaps I could devise a counter. But I don’t even know which herbs were used. I can’t create an antidote."

"Based on what you’ve told me, the pain only lasts for two hours, and then you feel perfectly fine. I find it hard to believe that whoever did this to you would be so merciful." Old Cai pushed his reading glasses further up his nose. "I have a theory. Perhaps you will be forced to endure this same agony every single day."

"Without an antidote, the end result will be a complete depletion of your life force until you’re literally pained to death."

Ye Rong slammed his fist on the table. "That little bitch... she’s truly venomous. We have to get her back. We can’t just die like this without even knowing what’s happening."

None of the henchmen answered. They were all terrified of Chen Jiao. Who would dare open their mouth now?

Yuan Sheng was more level-headed. He thought it over carefully. "This is just Old Cai’s theory. If we declare open war on her now, there’s no telling what she might do next."

"Why don’t we wait and see what happens tomorrow?"

For one, they needed to see if Old Cai’s theory was correct. For another, they needed to confirm if Chen Jiao’s drug really had such an effect. If the pain struck again that night, they would have to completely change their attitude toward her.

But if it had just been a one-time occurrence, they would hunt Chen Jiao down and kill her, no matter what it took.

Old Cai listened quietly as they talked. After they left, he couldn’t help but shake his head. ’Good advice is wasted on those who are doomed,’ he thought. He had warned them as much as he could. If they were stubborn enough to charge headfirst into a wall, who could they blame but themselves?