Chapter 148: Sneaky Moves Behind the Scenes
“I got hurt protecting that boy who stayed with me last night. He’s very responsible, and I like him. If I stay paralyzed, he’ll feel obligated to care for me. Once we’ve spent enough time together, he’ll fall for me too. Then I’ll come clean.” Li Zhuang had a look that said, Everything’s going according to plan. “You mustn’t tell him.”
“This… we can’t. As doctors, we can’t do something like that,” the doctor replied dutifully. “Let me check your recovery. You need to move around a little for proper healing.”
“I’m paralyzed—I can’t move. Go away,” Li Zhuang snapped, shooing him out.
He was so focused on acting that he didn’t realize Lu Xi had just returned and heard everything from the hallway.
That evening, when Lu Weiyi came to visit Li Zhuang, he got to witness a self-destructive display.
“So committed,” Lu Weiyi laughed, imagining the scene.
“Bro, don’t brush this off. I heard it myself—what Brother Li said. I mean… I think he’s a good person, but aren’t you close with Brother Mingxu? And… and I really like Ai Yi too…” Lu Xi fumbled, trying to express his conflicted feelings.
“Got it.” Lu Weiyi patted his head, not exposing Li Zhuang’s act and choosing not to explain further to Lu Xi either.
The next morning, Lu Weiyi secretly transferred Li Zhuang out and placed him in the room next to Xu Yi.
After another performance with Antonio, Xu Yi was brought over. The same routine played out, but this time Xu Yi behaved much more obediently—possibly because he noticed the location he was treating wasn’t the lower spine.
The treatment went smoothly. Thanks to Antonio’s semi-forced feeding, Xu Yi had absorbed a lot of crystal cores over the past few days.
Ten minutes later, Li Zhuang subtly shifted his body and nodded toward the anxiously waiting Lu Weiyi and Antonio. Lu Weiyi finally relaxed. He said to Xu Yi, “Go ahead and fix the fractured bones too.”
Just as Xu Yi was about to speak, Lu Weiyi added, “Among the crystal cores you absorbed yesterday was a healing-type core. Xu Sen exchanged it from me using 1,000 regular ones—just to boost your ability. That one should’ve given your power a major boost. It shouldn’t be used up so quickly.”
Lu Weiyi mentioned Xu Sen on purpose. If Xu Yi ever rose to power in the future and wanted revenge, Xu Sen—the instigator—wouldn’t escape either.
Lu Weiyi wasn’t about to take the fall all on his own.
This time, Xu Yi was completely speechless. When Antonio guided his hand over, he quickly and smoothly repaired Li Zhuang’s fractured ribs.
“Good performance. Keep it up,” Lu Weiyi said.
“When exactly are you going to stop keeping me locked up?” Xu Yi asked.
“When I think you’ve calmed down and understood what you should be doing,” Lu Weiyi replied. He then had Xu Yi sent back again.
After Xu Yi was taken away, Antonio returned to find Li Zhuang already stretching his back and moving around.
“Healing-type abilities are truly amazing,” Antonio said as he circled around him, looking astonished. He even tried to reach out to touch Li Zhuang’s ribs, only to have his hand slapped away. “If our squad had someone with a healing ability, we’d be golden.”
“Let’s hope so,” Lu Weiyi replied.
“What did you mean earlier about a healing-type crystal core?” Li Zhuang asked as he stretched and sat down on the bed.
“Oh, I wanted to ask about that too! We all saw the three mutated animals we encountered—none of them had healing abilities. You didn’t really give him one, did you?” Antonio plopped down next to him and whispered excitedly, “You tricked him with a fake core and got a thousand crystal cores in return. That’s seriously impressive.”
“What are you talking about?” Li Zhuang asked, confused. Antonio then explained how Lu Weiyi had managed to trade for a thousand cores.
“The healing-type core is real—it came from that mutated yellow dog. I only realized it after I extracted it,” Lu Weiyi explained. But when Li Zhuang heard this, his interest noticeably faded. With a more serious tone, he asked, “You really gave it to him?”
“No, I tricked him. It was pitch black and he was mentally unstable—there’s no way he could tell,” Lu Weiyi said frankly.
He had simply mixed in a purification-type crystal core with the regular ones. When absorbed together, the purification core’s effects stood out, giving the illusion of a boost in power.
“You… You just got something for nothing.”
“The phrase is ‘to get something for nothing,’” Li Zhuang corrected Antonio.
“Same thing—it’s still getting stuff without paying,” Antonio said as he hunched over, looking like someone plotting mischief. “So, what do we do next?”
“Wait,” Lu Weiyi said. “Wait until Xu Sen delivers all the goods. Then we’ll have Xu Yi treat him, and leave right after. But you’ll need to go back to the hospital and make sure people casually notice that you can move. Just don’t let them find out your ribs are healed.”
“No problem,” Li Zhuang replied.
Of course it’s a problem, you drama queen, Lu Weiyi thought to himself, but didn’t say anything out loud.
Unexpectedly, that very afternoon, Li Zhuang started making a fuss about being discharged. The reason? The doctor wouldn’t keep his secret, and the boy he liked got mad—so he had to go and make up with him.
When Lu Xi quietly reported this to Lu Weiyi, he nearly laughed himself to death.
“Bro, you can’t just ignore this!” Lu Xi said, feeling more anxious than the person involved.
“He’s putting on a show—for anyone at the base who might be nosy. His nerves were genuinely injured, and Antonio and I secretly treated him this morning,” Lu Weiyi explained.
Even after hearing this, Lu Xi still felt his older brother was being fooled. But Lu Weiyi didn’t explain further and instead asked him to help Li Qing collect jade.
The next day, Xu’s father returned with 300 crystal cores, thousands of kilograms of food, and an enormous haul of high-quality jade.
Lu Xi calculated the value of 200 crystal cores’ worth of goods and returned the surplus in food.
“Bring Xu Sen over tomorrow morning. Just him—don’t bring anything else,” Lu Weiyi said.
“Can’t it be done at the hospital?” Xu’s father didn’t want Xu Sen to be moved.
Lu Weiyi shook his head.
Xu’s father reluctantly agreed. “…Fine.” At this critical moment, he couldn’t afford to drop the ball. This was their own territory—if anything went wrong, the consequences wouldn’t be something they could bear.
That night, Su Yan—having heard that Xu’s father had delivered supplies—came by, somewhat embarrassed, and asked Lu Weiyi if he wanted some jade he had collected too.
He’d seen Lu Xi actually exchanging resources for jade, and after a nudge from Li Qing, he’d asked his people to pick up any while collecting other supplies. After all, jade couldn’t be eaten or drunk—might as well trade it for something useful.
“Of course! Let Lu Xi take a look and calculate the value,” Lu Weiyi said readily.
“Just so you know—none of mine has storage ability,” Su Yan said directly. He’d gotten along well with them recently and wasn’t interested in playing games.
“Understood. Just talk to Lu Xi,” Lu Weiyi said. He was eager to put the jade into his spatial storage and see how much it could expand. “We might be leaving tomorrow. You came just in time—I was about to ask you to join us for a meal.”
“So soon? Not staying a few more days?” Su Yan asked.
“No need. We’ve all got family back at the base,” Lu Weiyi said. “And now that Li Zhuang’s fine, it’s time to go back.”
“Alright, then tonight will be your farewell dinner,” Su Yan said without pressing further. He had his people check the jade with Lu Xi, then sat down for a meal with a few others. A few dishes and several bottles of liquor later, the atmosphere became lively. By the end, even Antonio and Su Yan were calling each other “big bro” and “little bro.”
Lu Weiyi truly experienced the indispensability of Chinese drinking culture.
The food sent by Xu’s father was ultimately given to Su Yan. Adding it to the jade he had contributed and the resources they had already advanced, Lu Weiyi gave him a bit of a discount—it all came out about even.
Even so, Antonio couldn’t stop praising Lu Weiyi. They hadn’t spent a single core of their own, yet had acquired an incredible amount of high-grade jade, several hundred crystal cores, and—most importantly—had secretly healed a potentially paralyzed Li Zhuang.
When Xu’s father brought Xu Sen over, he was accompanied by a swarm of ability users that nearly surrounded the entire police station—sending an unmistakable message.
“Sorry, my father…” Xu Sen didn’t finish the sentence.
Lu Weiyi didn’t need him to. He had Xu Sen lie down on the bed, and when he caught a whiff of body wash mixed with hospital disinfectant, he had someone change his clothes to bloodstained ones reeking of blood. Then, once again, he had Antonio bring over Xu Yi.
For the past two days, Xu Yi had been made to treat one person in the morning and one in the afternoon. Whether he realized the person he was treating wasn’t Xu Sen, or simply didn’t want to suffer any more, he only resisted on the first day. After that, he didn’t react again.
This time was no different. Xu Yi placed his hand on Xu Sen’s body through a layer of rough fabric. At first, Xu Sen’s expression was calm, but gradually a look of joy appeared on his face. Once Xu Yi finished and was taken away, Xu Sen immediately and cautiously moved to get off the bed.
Not having stood for a long time, his legs were unsteady. But he was clearly overjoyed.
“I… I can stand again… haha… I thought…” Xu Sen turned to look at Lu Weiyi, eyes misty.
“I thought I’d be lying down for the rest of my life… haha… forgive me…”
“Start training your body properly,” Lu Weiyi said. At that moment, Antonio returned.
“I’m heading back to the base.”
“So soon?” Xu Sen was surprised. “Stay a few more days. I haven’t even properly thanked you… and I wanted to ask how you…” He didn’t finish, but Lu Weiyi understood what he meant.
“Zhuang Mingxu is still waiting for me at the base. Maybe I’ll bring him here in a few days,” Lu Weiyi said. “As for Xu Yi, I didn’t do much—just sliced a few fingers, snapped a few tendons, and he behaved.”
“I gave him crystal cores—five per day. Plus that healing-type core. By now, treating a dozen bone fractures a day shouldn’t be a problem. From now on, you’ll have to handle him yourself. Hopefully, by the time I return, you’ll already have him under control,” Lu Weiyi added.
“If there’s anything else you want to know, just ask Xu Yi directly.”
“Let’s go. Take us out to show your father, then let us leave.”
“…Sorry,” Xu Sen said this time with genuine sincerity.
Lu Weiyi, his group of five, Xu Sen, and a child named Xiao Jiu all walked out together. As soon as they appeared, Xu’s mother burst into tears, embracing Xu Sen and crying uncontrollably. Xu’s father hugged them both, choking with emotion several times.
