Special Forces Medic

"Zhang Teng will take action tonight." Xiao Lin did not bother to consider the authenticity of this information; regardless of the truth, he would go. "Where is he now?"

"Jingshan!" Consort Ling's long eyelashes fluttered, and the gauze in her hands was slightly yellowed. "I can go alone."

"Killing him doesn't solve the problem." Xiao Lin squinted his eyes, and a faint murderous aura emanated from them: "Where is Poison Dragon now?"

"In the nearest five-star hotel to Jingshan, staying with him is the boss of the Southeast Asian assassin group, named Elder Guo. This person is ruthless, and no one is clear about his skills. There aren't many who can command him, and his strength is still being assessed."

"Elder Guo? How does he compare to you?" Xiao Lin lit a cigarette; he still had plenty of time and wasn't in a hurry.

"About the same, maybe slightly better." Consort Ling made a cautious conclusion; there was no possibility of a direct comparison.

"You're being modest." Xiao Lin started the car. From Yan University to Jingshan, they needed to pass through the first ring, which meant they would have to endure a severe traffic jam before reaching the foot of Jingshan. "The purpose of this trip is not to kill. Whatever Zhang Teng does, we'll leave it to the police to handle. After we get the evidence we need, we'll retreat."

"Zhang Teng's target is the Wang Family!"

"Hmm, a cornered dog will leap over a wall!" Xiao Lin was a bit excited. He had waited so long, and finally, there was a result. As long as Zhang Teng made a move, he would be ready to close the first net.

"Fatty Wang will kill Zhang Teng before he opens his mouth." Consort Ling looked out the window, able to foresee this scene.

"Fatty Wang won't kill Zhang Teng, but Poison Dragon will." Xiao Lin weaved through the traffic, avoiding all the peak sections, and advanced little by little through alleys: "Today is the sixth day!"

"There was news on the fourth day." A sudden brake almost made Consort Ling hit the front seat.

"Why didn't you say?"

"Live kidney donors are rated higher than deceased ones." Consort Ling looked straight at Xiao Lin through the rearview mirror. The demand for kidneys in the black market was enormous, much more than he imagined. Xiao Lin returned Consort Ling's gaze in silence, waiting for her to speak.

"I don't think it's time to take risks now, and on the black market, I met someone who used to be an undercover cop, who reappeared after being shut down by 'Black Crow.' His purpose is still unclear, and he, too, is tracing the source of the kidneys, so I want to wait a bit."

"When will the transaction be?"

"Tonight!" Consort Ling softly let out two words.

"What time?" Xiao Lin asked in a deep voice.

"Eight o'clock!"

"The location of the transaction?"

"The abandoned dock."

Xiao Lin looked at the time. Even if they rushed to Jingshan directly, the earliest they could arrive would be by 7:15. If Zhang Teng could play his part at the same time, he still had time to get to the transaction point.

The sound of tires skidding in place was heard as the QQ quickly turned around and headed back the way it came.

"Are you going to give up? You put in so much effort and dedication for this opportunity. Are you going to give it up for a kidney?" Consort Ling underestimated Dan Qing's importance to Xiao Lin. She did not expect Xiao Lin to abandon Zhang Teng and change course to the abandoned dock. From behind the car, she listened to Xiao Lin calmly and steadily address potential issues that would arise at night. Perhaps he didn't know who the opponent was, but his planning seemed flawless.

Xiao Lin's last call was to Wu Shuang. After giving a brief explanation, he instructed that entry into the crime scene was only to be made after Zhang Teng was shot, which the person on the other end clearly disagreed with. After a few arguments on the phone, Xiao Lin hung up.

The abandoned dock wasn't truly abandoned—there were simply fewer ships departing from there, and most docked ships were civilian.

A silver QQ slid into an alley near the dock's entrance. Xiao Lin got out of the car, and Consort Ling pulled a gun from her body and tossed it onto the seat.

"The transaction location is guarded, and no firearms or weapons can be brought inside." Consort Ling casually removed a short blade hidden in Xiao Lin's sleeve. "Don't underestimate this market." She shook the short blade in her hand and threw it in the car. "Leaving this should be fine; they won't find it. Inside, don't talk. Just follow me, understand?"

Xiao Lin nodded as they walked through a passage lined with containers, coming upon a cargo ship. As expected, there were guards on deck—burly figures standing unwaveringly on the swaying ship, their stability evident. Xiao Lin raised his hands in sequence with Consort Ling, letting them search him thoroughly from top to bottom.

Careful, that's the only word to describe the attitude of these burly men, meticulous to the point that not even the perineum was spared. Xiao Lin frowned, and after being frisked thoroughly by the large hands for a long time, he had the urge to punch someone. Consort Ling blinked at him, signaling him to hold back, so he coughed twice, which drew ridicule from the other side.

"That's enough!" With a heavily accented Beijing dialect, Xiao Lin was pushed into the cabin.

From the outside, it looked no more than an ordinary small cargo ship, but upon entering the lower deck, it had mostly been hollowed out, and the rooms partitioned inside were filled with the smell of blood.

Someone led them through a separated walkway into an iron room. Inside sat a person, wearing a hat, face obscured, but giving off a faint impression of excessive youthfulness.

"JAZZ, these two want kidneys." A burly man called to the apparently sleeping person, who did not respond. "Wait here." The burly man seemed well-acquainted with such matters and pointed to a side bench. "He's had too much to drink, you'll need to wait for him to wake up, might take a bit of time."

Xiao Lin surveyed the surroundings; the partitioned living space of iron, dilapidated and forlorn, a camp bed laid across to his left, the man called JAZZ leaned against the iron wall, feet propped on a wooden table, an old-fashioned hanging lamp swaying overhead, casting a yellowish hue adding to the room's derelict feel.

Xiao Lin moved to leave but was caught by Consort Ling. "There are rules here!" he was silently warned, the mystery only increasing Xiao Lin's curiosity about this realm.

The illegal human organ market has never truly been eradicated. After being temporarily suppressed by combined efforts, it resurfaced like a ghost, as the market demand far exceeded the hospital reserves, naturally making the black market a supplier for demand. It's a case of where there's a need, there's a trade.

After an exceptionally loud snore, the seemingly motionless person sat up, revealing a face under the hat, though it was still hard to see, with nearly half of it obscured by his beard. The man smacked his lips, seemingly not fully awake, eyes wide open staring at the two before him.

Xiao Lin was sure he wasn't really being looked at, it was just a natural reaction upon waking, eyes unfocusedly fixed on a point.

"Dead or living?" JAZZ shuddered awake, his voice mechanically indifferent like an answering machine.

"What's the procedure for living donors?" Consort Ling couldn't prevent Xiao Lin's question from blurting out.

JAZZ looked directly at Xiao Lin, letting out a cold chuckle. "New here?"

"It's our first time here, we're not quite clear on the rules." Consort Ling cut in before Xiao Lin could respond to JAZZ's question, successfully diverting attention to herself.

"Here, you don't have the right to ask questions." JAZZ jerked his chin toward the door. "Out, turn right for the living donor room. If you want a living kidney, all surgeries must be done here with your own doctor. We provide no medical equipment or staff; we just supply the donors and are not responsible for post-operative death or other issues."

Xiao Lin walked past rooms roughly ten square meters each, also partitioned with iron sheets. Such crude spaces aren't fit for such precise surgery; even a small appendix removal would be a challenge. He quickly abandoned the idea of using a living transplant. He shook his head at Consort Ling, indicating this didn't meet his needs.

After walking Xiao Lin around once, Consort Ling returned to the original room.

"How about it?" JAZZ opened his eyes as they entered, still staring at Xiao Lin behind Consort Ling with interest; in his experience, the one behind was usually the main character.

"It's difficult to perform surgery here, the conditions don't meet the sterile and infection-control standards." Xiao Lin described in a professional tone.

"So, you're opting for dead bodies?" JAZZ ignored the so-called professionalism; everyone coming here could more or less say something, but he was only interested in whether they could afford it.

"If available!" Xiao Lin didn't hide his needs, exposing his desires too overtly to a seller often resulted in a price hike during business negotiations.

"Dead bodies are three times the price of living ones, and it takes relatively longer." JAZZ pulled out a black notebook from the desk drawer, the paper edges worn and torn, densely filled with names, amounts, and some cryptic symbols, possibly only he understood.

"What's the earliest I can get it?"

"There's a ship next month, though it's uncertain if it will have kidneys." JAZZ closed the black log, lit a half-smoked cigar, his blue eyes murky as they floated over Xiao Lin. "If you can't wait, there are two living bodies available for five million."

"What if I want to take it out?" Xiao Lin considered; a month is long, and he couldn't guarantee Dan Qing had time.

"Seems you don't quite understand the rules here!" JAZZ's temper was clearly short, the smoke he exhaled intensifying the rusty aroma. "If you think the medical conditions don't meet your standards, you can wait a month, I don't mind."

"What if I offer five times the price of a dead body?"

"Five times?" (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)