Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Chapter 907 - 519: Teacher (This - Is Nuclear)_2

He’s like a madman with no one to turn to, and also like an idiot who can’t defend himself no matter what he says,

and after ending up like this, he still has to find a way to scrape together your medical fees."

He Jiaqing lowered his head and said, "I didn’t want it to be like this either. Back then I did it to save myself."

Teacher Song let out a bitter laugh. "I really didn’t expect you’d still say this kind of lie in front of me. If it was only to save yourself, why didn’t you let me save you?

The day you left, I even made a point of going to see the two of you, right downstairs from Lu Xiaolan’s dorm. I’m your teacher; as long as you asked me for help, I would definitely have helped you,

you’re my student. I entrusted the Mysterious Red Life Lotus to you because I believed you would bring change to Puluo State. But I never thought you’d drag him into this.

If, in order to reach your goal, you’re willing to resort to any means, then what difference is there between you and your father’s generation, your grandfather’s generation? What meaning is there in the Red Lotus being given to you?"

He Jiaqing was silent for a long time, then said, "Now that the Red Lotus has been given to him, maybe he can do better."

Teacher Song shook his head again and again. "He’s just a pitiful orphan. Among all my students, he’s the most pitiful one. I wanted him to suffer less, I wanted to see him live out this life safe and sound.

You disguised yourself as him and stashed the Red Lotus in a locker at the campus convenience store. That meant the Red Lotus was destined to end up in his hands.

Do you know the Dark Star Bureau nearly killed him over this? Do you know he almost couldn’t even get on the train? I went to beg Lucky Star to step in just to keep him alive, do you understand?

He has no cultivation level, no weapons, no basic knowledge of any Dark Ability, and no one he can rely on. How do you think he’s supposed to survive in Puluo State?

What you wanted was to make it impossible for him to survive, and then use the Red Lotus to reshape the landscape of Puluo State, isn’t that right?"

He Jiaqing was speechless for a long time.

Teacher Song sighed. "Why did you come to me? If it’s for treatment, I’m powerless. I’m not familiar with Kang Zhenchang."

He Jiaqing rubbed his hands and said, "I wanted to say something to Li Banfeng, but it’s hard to bring up, so I was hoping you could..."

Teacher Song took out pen and paper and wrote down a phone number. "This is his number. Whatever it is, tell him yourself."

He Jiaqing took the phone number and said, "I was hoping you could..."

"I can’t, and I don’t want to help you either. Our teacher–student relationship ends here." Teacher Song stood up. "And there’s one more thing I need to tell you: stop going around talking about my birthmark. You’ve never even seen it—why are you spouting nonsense? A man bragging about that kind of thing is really pathetic!"

He Jiaqing tried to defend himself: "Li Banfeng bragged about it too..."

"He wasn’t bragging. He saw it with his own eyes. I showed it to him fair and square—he’s properly, seriously seen it." Teacher Song turned and left, never looking at He Jiaqing again.

He Jiaqing looked again at the phone number in his hand, wanting to call Li Banfeng. He held his phone and waited for a long time, but the number just wouldn’t go through.

...

At Yuezhou Sanatorium, all the wards in the infectious diseases department were full. The beds in the corridor were pressed head to foot, and quite a few patients who really couldn’t stand anymore just lay directly on the floor.

A doctor surnamed Liu called to a nurse to change the dressing, but the nurse just stood there without moving.

Doctor Liu urged her: "Hurry up!"

The nurse took off her Gloves. Her hands were densely covered in blisters.

The doctor was dumbfounded. The nurse started to cry. She’d been infected.

The patients in the ward all had this kind of rash. Once you caught it, you could be dead within a few hours.

The doctor went back to the office, sat in silence for a moment, then took out a pack of cigarettes from the drawer.

He clenched a cigarette in his hand and said to the department head, "I’m going down for a smoke. I’ll be back in a bit."

He took the elevator downstairs, but before he reached the exit, two security guards blocked his way.

"Doctor Liu, you can’t leave the building."

"I’m just going out for a smoke."

"If you want to smoke, do it at the entrance."

"It’s not appropriate for me to smoke at the entrance of the inpatient building. I’ll go to the grove next door. I’ll be right back."

The security guards held him back, not letting him pass. "Doctor Liu, we just got the order. This building is entry-only, no exit. Even we don’t dare go out. Don’t make things hard for us."

...

At two in the afternoon, Shen Jingye received an order to escort the famous doctor Kang Zhenchang to Yuezhou Second Hospital. The order specifically listed Kang Zhenchang’s home address.

Upon receiving the order, Shen Jingye immediately called in Chen Changrui. He didn’t say who they were escorting, nor what mission they were carrying out, only told Chen Changrui to pick experienced team members and start the operation at once.

Chen Changrui could feel this mission was anything but ordinary. Every time it was like this, he always wanted to take some team members out to get some real experience.

For example, Candy—someone who needed tempering the most. Her cultivation level wasn’t high, her seniority wasn’t deep, her abilities weren’t strong, but her position wasn’t low. Letting her be tempered in special missions would be good for her personally and would also help with managing the team.

But if he brought Candy along and she messed things up at a critical moment, what then?

This wasn’t Chen Changrui overthinking. One person’s lack of strength could very likely drag down the entire team; he’d run into that situation more than once.

After hesitating for a long time, Chen Changrui still added Candy’s name. The action group had thirty people in total; Brick, Huajia, Preserved Fruit, Crabapple Fruit, Cone—these veteran members with real strength were all among them.

Dumpling, Chuuni, Light Bulb, and Ming Xing were also selected—their performance in a series of recent operations had been outstanding.

On the way to pick up their target, Cone couldn’t help saying, "Jobs like this, Big Head was always in on them before. No idea how Big Head’s doing now."