NOVEL NEXT Chapter 747: Acquaintance
"Ah." The black-clad thief's face hit the ground and he slid for some distance. "Who dares to mess with Master's business?" The thief regained his senses, cursed randomly, and then turned his head to look around.
"Dogs sure bark loudly." Ye Shikai moved instantaneously in front of the thief, delivering a horizontal kick towards his head, a move meant to be used on the weak and elderly - no match for a skilled martial artist like Ye Shikai. Without even a chance to beg for mercy, the thief was knocked unconscious by the simple kick. If Ye Shikai had used his Inner Strength, the thief's head would have exploded.
"Old man, your bag." Ye Shikai picked up the dropped bag and turned around only to find that the old man had mysteriously disappeared.
"What's going on, he was just here." Ye Shikai scratched his head curiously. Now that the thief was unconscious, and there were no cameras around, he wasn't about to be falsely accused, was he? Ye Shikai made a phone call, asking Ghost to take care of the matter, while he continued his search for the "Ghost Hand Divine Doctor".
If what Ghost said were true, such a "master" was like a hermit depicted in ancient dramas, aloof from fame and wealth, largely acting on fate.
"With such a large apartment building, where should I start looking?" Ye Shikai entered the elevator, planning to go from top to bottom, continuing to knock on doors.
"Ding." The elevator door slowly opened. Ye Shikai glanced out; the elevator had stopped on the eighth floor, not the top tenth floor as expected, as it seemed someone had called it.
Shortly after, a middle-aged man entered, apology written on his face. Ye Shikai gave him a glance and noticed something odd with just one look: wasn't this man the swindler he had encountered at the airport?
"You're not that fortune-telling charlat... ahem, that fortuneteller, are you?" Ye Shikai almost blurted it out.
Before his trip to Atlantis, Ye Shikai had met him outside the Yanjing airport. He had been driven away by airport security, and Ye Shikai, partly out of sympathy and boredom, had his fortune read. It was this man who had warned him of a "love disaster".
"Oh, young man, we meet again, what a coincidence! Today is truly fortuitous for me, to meet a noble person just by stepping outside." The man was wearing a white mandarin jacket, looking like he might have just stepped off a drama set without changing.
"So, Master, you live here too?" Ye Shikai chatted him up.
"Alas, to be honest, I do not live here," sighed the middle-aged man, before confiding, "I'll tell you a secret: I'm actually here looking for someone called 'Ghost Hand Divine Doctor.'"
"What." Ye Shikai's pupils constricted, surprised that this "swindler" was also looking for the Divine Doctor. Ye Shikai was vexed; wasn't this man supposed to be an all-knowing seer? How could he not foresee the day he would need another doctor?
No wonder he was a swindler.
"It's said this Divine Doctor can cure all illnesses and charges flexibly according to one's own fate. I'm just trying my luck," the man said with a sheepish grin.
"Master, you have an illness you can't resolve yourself?" Ye Shikai was a bit apprehensive. Although he was not selfish, this soothsayer was clearly a rival. What if the Divine Doctor would only treat one person? Who would be chosen then?
"Well, those are just empty words for a meal ticket, completely useless against true ailments," sighed the man, revealing his condition, "To tell you the truth, I have terminal cancer. The doctors say I won't live past two months."
"Really? Master, you seemed fine last time I saw you." Ye Shikai was skeptical. He often saw such claims on beggars' signs, and he hated people who exploited others' sympathy, leaving those truly in need without help. It was despicable.
"Eh, young man, regarding matters of life and death, how could I dare speak falsely?" the man sighed again, "This trip to the doctor is also me taking a chance. I've heard this Divine Doctor can truly cure all, perhaps even my illness. If not, so be it."
Listening in, Ye Shikai felt a pang of sorrow. Cancer, the scourge that people fear like a natural disaster, despite medical advancements that make its treatment somewhat possible, remains expensive, pricing out many. Thus, people joke that cancer is like a tyrant demanding either your money or your life.
Even in the world of cultivators, at a minimum, one needs to be at the Nascent Soul Stage to fend off the threat of cancer - and in its advanced stages, where it pervades deep into the body, perhaps not even a deity could save them.
"That being said, young man, what brings you here?"
"Master, I'm also here for the Divine Doctor," Ye Shikai said with a light smile, not bothering to hide it.
"What, young man, you're seeking the Divine Doctor too? You have a terminal illness?" Unsurprisingly, the man showed a look of shock when he heard this.
"Something like that," Ye Shikai said lightly. The daily bouts of severe pain, though undiagnosable, were unbearable.
"Then let's go see the Divine Doctor together."
"Ring ring." At that moment, Ye Shikai's phone rang. He gave the man an apologetic look as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. It was a call from Ghost.
"Hello, what's up?"
"Boss, great news! The Divine Doctor has just posted a message through his special account... Guess where he is."
"Cut the small talk, spill it." Ye Shikai was frustrated, as Ghost began to tease.
"He's right here, at this spot, and he's also announced that people at the other seven locations have lost their chance to be treated. However..."
"However what." Ye Shikai had a bad premonition.
"He will only treat the first person who arrives, so you have to hurry, Boss. His address is Block 9, Room 1001."
Block 9, Room 1001. If Ye Shikai remembered correctly, he was in Block 9 now.
Ding. Just then, the elevator doors opened smoothly, right at Block 9's top floor, the first floor. That meant Room 1001 was surely on this floor.
Ye Shikai glanced at the man in front of him, uncertain. Human nature is inherently selfish; right now, the man was unaware of the news. If Ye Shikai got there first, he could secure the Divine Doctor's help, and nobody else would have time to arrive; Ye Shikai could be fate's chosen one if he wished.
But if he did so, the man before him would die of cancer. If it were truly advanced, not even calling upon the best doctors with the most advanced equipment from Netherworld Palace could save him.