Chapter 514 - 528: Arranging a Way Out

Jiang Xia!

The door to Jiang Xia’s room opened!

An Ning instantly attacked with her spiritual power. The man’s gun exploded, and the aftershock sent him crumpling to the ground, howling in pain.

At the same time, several people rushed out, subduing the man and snatching the gun from him.

An Ning also rushed out of her room at the first opportunity, running toward Jiang Xia.

In that split second, her mind raced, planning out a series of contingencies for Jiang Xia. ’How can I heal his injuries quickly? How do I get him a prosthetic? What if he’s blinded?’ She thought of the worst-case scenarios and prepared a fallback plan for every single one.

If the worst came to pass, she was tempted to take out and use some of the equipment she kept in her space.

’If he wasn’t okay, then nobody else was going to be okay!’

BANG!

"Jiang Xia—!"

"I’m fine. Help him."

Jiang Xia was covered in blood, one hand pressed against Tao Quan’s abdomen.

The two of them had been assigned to the same room because they were classmates.

Once An Ning’s spiritual power swept over Jiang Xia, her heart rate started to slow. She immediately knelt on the ground beside Tao Quan.

She performed the same scan. The bad news: Tao Quan was injured. The good news: the bullet had passed clean through his body without hitting any internal organs.

"I’ll stop the bleeding."

An Ning pressed her palm over Jiang Xia’s. He slowly withdrew his hand, leaving only An Ning’s in its place.

A warm energy flowed into Tao Quan’s abdomen, and the cold he had been feeling began to recede.

Tao Quan, his consciousness starting to fade, opened his eyes and looked at An Ning, his thoughts unreadable.

"Tao Quan, I’m using Mysticism to stop the bleeding, but you still need to go to the hospital."

"Okay. Thank you."

Tao Quan thanked her, but An Ning merely hummed in acknowledgment, offering no further response.

"How is he—oh my god, what happened!"

"Tao Quan, you’re—"

"Oh—we need to get to a hospital, quick! Where’s the hospital!"

"Son of a bitch!"

A normally civilized teacher had been pushed to the point of swearing.

Jiang Xia stood up, calmed the teacher down, and then called the local emergency number.

When Jiang Xia returned, the teacher pulled him aside and asked, "Does the ambulance cost money?"

"Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m unwilling to pay, it’s just... I really don’t have any."

The teacher looked extremely guilty as he spoke. Their funds were limited, and he was afraid he didn’t have enough money on him.

"Jiang Xia, do you know if there’s anywhere around here to wash dishes—"

"Teacher, I have money."

"Ah? Really? That’s great! Keep track of it all. When we get back, I’ll have the school reimburse you. We won’t let you pay for this out of pocket."

With the money problem solved, the teacher’s heart felt a little lighter. Now, all they could do was pray that Tao Quan would be all right.

The ambulance arrived in a reasonable amount of time. An Ning finally moved her hand from Tao Quan’s abdomen, letting the professional paramedics take over his care.

Jiang Xia stood behind An Ning and said in a low voice, "I’ll go with him."

An Ning nodded. ’That’s how it should be.’

Regardless of whether they liked Tao Quan or not, right now, they were a group.

"My God—"

"Gasp—how could this be?"

The exclamations from the paramedics interrupted what Jiang Xia was about to say. He and An Ning moved forward.

How could one even describe the scene before them?

As the paramedics worked on Tao Quan, they cut open his shirt, revealing his upper body.

His somewhat pale skin was covered in scars.

These weren’t the kind of scars that were made in a day or two.

Upon closer inspection, there were knife wounds, burns, cuts, whip marks, and even scars from cigarette burns. There were dozens of them, both old and new. It seemed as if every imaginable tool had been used on Tao Quan’s body.

Under the lights, every scar seemed to writhe, viciously telling its own story.

"Sir, have you been abused? Do you need us to call the police?"

The paramedic who asked the question looked suspiciously at An Ning and the others, as if they were the culprits responsible for all this.

Lying on the stretcher, Tao Quan replied in fluent English, "No, it’s not necessary. It wasn’t anyone. It was me. I... enjoy the pain."

With that one sentence, everyone present understood.

Looks of confusion, contempt, and disgust lingered on Tao Quan, but his face showed no trace of embarrassment. He simply urged the paramedics to hurry.

Soon, he was loaded into the ambulance. Jiang Xia didn’t have time to talk to An Ning; he just got into the ambulance to go with Tao Quan to the hospital.

As the ambulance drove away, An Ning’s thoughts remained on Tao Quan. ’Those scars... The angles of many of the wounds meant it was impossible for him to have inflicted them on himself.’

’What in the world was his story?’

"Hey, shut up!"

"Don’t move!"

The shouts of the police brought An Ning back to her senses. She watched as they roughly shoved the attacker into a car.

One of the officers collected the criminal’s gun.

"Serves you right. The barrel burst."

The criminal was taken away, but a few officers remained at the scene, asking questions to try and understand what had happened.

Meanwhile, other injured people were taken away by ambulance for emergency treatment. One person had even died on the scene.

The competing students stared blankly at the scene, their feelings a complicated mess.

Two thoughts ran through their minds. First: ’Guns are so dangerous, why aren’t they banned?’

Second: as a group of students talented enough to study abroad, they suddenly weren’t so sure they wanted to anymore.

This one scene had brutally snuffed out their dreams of studying abroad.

When An Ning was questioned, she answered truthfully. It wasn’t the first time the police had heard the name Sara.

One of the officers was scanning the crowd. He walked straight toward a scantily clad, curly-haired woman who was avoiding eye contact.

"Hey, you’re Sara, aren’t you?"

Confronted, Sara knew she couldn’t hide any longer and had to admit it.

"It’s not my fault! He’s a psycho!"

"I left him precisely because I knew he was a psycho!"

Sara kept trying to explain, but the officer said nothing, just stared intently at her. Then he glanced at the similarly scantily clad man next to her and said, "Both of you, come with me."

In the end, both were taken away by the police. The sudden attack seemed to be over.

But in reality, the family of the person who died would soon receive the terrible news. The injured were suffering, and their subsequent medical treatments would not be free.

The life trajectories of many people were changed in that one moment.

Yu the Elder gathered all the students. He first comforted them, and then said with deep feeling, "In life, you must take responsibility for your actions."

"Some responsibilities are too great for us to bear. No matter what you do, think before you act. Don’t let your emotions control you."

The students nodded, and Yu the Elder could only hope they truly took his words to heart.

No one slept very well that night.

The next morning, the bus to the competition arrived on time, and Jiang Xia returned from the hospital.

As for Tao Quan, he needed to rest at the hospital. Fortunately, the bleeding had been stopped in time and no internal organs were damaged. It was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune.

Upon returning, Jiang Xia changed his clothes and took a shower, but the faint smell of blood still clung to him.

He found An Ning, leaned in close to her ear, and finished the sentence that had been interrupted yesterday.

"Tao Quan took a bullet for me."