Legend of the chosen ones: Beyond Destiny

After leaving the ward, Wen Wen hadn't actually gone far; she just went up two floors, turned a corner, and entered an empty meeting room.

Tong Hua lay on the table, sleeping soundly, snoring loudly with several files clutched in her arms, clearly having pulled many all-nighters.

As to whether those all-nighters were for gaming or working, well... that remained to be seen.

Bang!

Wen Wen unceremoniously smashed her fist on the table, waking up the slacking subordinate.

"What's going on? What's going on?"

Tong Hua, alert, grabbed her phone, "Who scored big?"

On the dark, extinguished screen , there wasn't a game interface but rather a reflection of Tong Hua's own face, which was soon overshadowed by the expressionless face lingering behind her. Bending down, Wen Wen gently reminded her by her ear,

"Next time you stay up all night, I'll break your phone, understand?"

"I wasn't sleeping, I was awake, I am awake!" Tong Hua wiped her face, trying to look energized, which only highlighted her dark circles even more.

She held up the files like a treasure.

"All investigated."

"Let's hear it then," Wen Wen leafed through the files in her hand and asked, "What are their origins?"

"The leaders, the woman you asked about last night, named Zhu Hong, thirty-one years old."

Tong Hua simply touched the files and knew everything immediately, "Ostensibly, she runs two chain restaurants and a KTV, but that's just a front.

Her real identity is the mistress of the second-in-command of the Spring City Gang; apparently, she used to work as a hostess and, after hooking up with Chen Xingzhou, got involved with her current lover... However, her lover plays in quite twisted ways, never mind, not important.

Anyway, after Zhu Hong contracted Blood Thirst, the first person she consumed was him, and you know what happened next—it escalated uncontrollably, she almost ate up all her friends and girlfriends.

In just two weeks, she reached the fifth stage, her limbs mutated, life form altered, completely turned into a Mutated Creature, and by that point, she could be called a mutant Ghoul.

Currently, more than half of the infected in Cliff City were infected by her. Following this lead, Xiao An, Lao Zhang, and I spent all night apprehending more than twenty people!"

Ignoring the fluff in the statement 'we killed indiscriminately,' Wen Wen asked directly, "How were they dealt with?"

"As per your rules, Wen Wen, those who had consumed humans were executed on the spot, those not yet at the third rank were sent to the rehabilitation hospital for mandatory treatment, the expenses still running through the company's accounts, detailed expenses are listed here…"

Wen Wen didn't even glance at the several account books, casually tossing them aside.

"Anything else?"

"There's also what Ji Jue, uh, cough, the Chosen One said about the old man who attacked his home; I've looked into that as well, it's here."

Tong Hua searched for a while and found two pages, pushing them forward.

A fleeting life.

Chen Lusheng, male, seventy-one years old, scavenger.

When young, he was idle and unruly, frequented in rough crowds, didn't care even when his wife eloped, only started to reform after his old mother died, but it was too late.

Aside from labor and physical work, no place would take him.

Bricklayer, mover, sewer repair, he had dabbled in all trades available in the market, saved some money in his old age, set up a scrap station, dealt in fridges and color TVs, selling them to scrape by.

This was the mundane life of a lower-class person, nothing notable.

Until... he found a child in the garbage heap.

Born with a genetic disease, festering all over, several fingers gnawed off by rats, everyone said she wouldn't survive, only the increasingly silent old man quietly endured the entire winter with her, keeping each other company.

She pulled through.

But not for long.

These difficult yet joyful days lasted only a brief seven years.

"Congenital immune system deficiency—a common condition among children born after the Ether Path days. Wealthy families could afford surgery in Central City, those who couldn't afford it didn't live long.

Even going bankrupt, they could only get conservative treatment at Jici Hospital, barely clinging to life."

Tong Hua sighed, "When I went there, the neighbor said he had been ill, hadn't come out for several days, probably almost lost control a few days ago.

Before losing control, he borrowed money from all his friends, mortgaged his property for high-interest loans, gathered a large sum of money, all of which went into his daughter's medical account at the hospital."

Wen Wen was silent for a long time, then softly asked, "Does his daughter know?"

"She's already dead."

Tong Hua pulled out another death report from the file, "Just the other night, organ hemorrhage, resuscitation failed... she passed even before he did."

"…"

Wen Wen said nothing more, her lips silently moving in the quiet.

She uttered a curse.

Though accustomed to death, sometimes, death is not equal.

Some people stir the world while alive and shock the heavens when they die, but many more live unnoticed and die just as quietly.

Alive or dead, none is by their own choosing.

Pain, cries, despair, and tears, all extinguished in the unnoticed silence.

"So that's why I hate this crappy world," she said.

She closed her eyes.

In the Northern Mountain District, beheading abounded as they completely eradicated Zhu Hong's infection, containing the spread of Blood Thirst. However, the real source remained at large.

This time, that scum from the Dragon Sacrifice Ceremony had slipped up, and Wen Wen really had to thank Ji Jue; otherwise, who knows how long he could have stayed hidden.

With Tong Hua here, who had inherited the "Matrix·Yesterday Reappearance," once he showed up, he could no longer hide. Sooner or later, he would be unearthed.

But with the current clues, it still wasn't fast enough.

However, aren't more clues right in front of us?

.

.

Fifteen minutes later, the conference room's table was covered with medical cases.

A few doctors accompanying them were answering Wen Wen's questions, while Tong Hua's fingers skimmed between the case files and records—the Superior specializing in the Ether Path was best at reading and observing messages and events in the world. With this jumbled pile in front of Tong Hua, the processing speed was even more exaggerated than the legendary "quantum fluctuation speed reading."

Regrettably, there were few useful leads.

After finishing, Tong Hua slowly shook her head at Wen Wen.

"Is this all?" Wen Wen furrowed her brow.

"That's everything," said the deputy director while wiping sweat and smiling bitterly. "Jici Hospital's income, besides patient medication fees, mostly comes from church donations. We haven't managed to go paperless yet, plus the number of sources for the disease is limited. The records of abnormal test indices and patients with a rapid onset of rabies you've mentioned—there are only so many."

"What else?"

Wen Wen pressed, "Any other related materials, bring them out too. If they're too heavy, we can go to the archives ourselves."

The deputy director stayed silent, sighed, but ultimately said nothing.

It was instead a young doctor behind him who hesitated and finally couldn't help but speak out, "You are concerned about blood-borne diseases, aren't you?"

"How so?" Wen Wen raised an eyebrow.

"..."

Realizing his mistake, the doctor fell silent; in fact, colleagues had already cast angry glances at him. He lowered his head, took a shaky step backward, and it was apparent that he had difficulty walking.

Some things couldn't be said.

At least, not as someone from the hospital to the Security Bureau.

"You are here to assist the Security Bureau with official matters. Honestly, those other messy issues are none of my concern, and I don't want to interfere," Wen Wen warned with a cold tone, frowning, "I hope it doesn't end up looking too ugly."

"No, no, no, it's not that we're deliberately hiding anything, it's just," the deputy director sighed, "if you're investigating blood-borne diseases, it's indeed no problem starting from the hospital, but often, we're also powerless.

Most people who have a choice, patients who need blood, usually wouldn't come here to suffer."

He smiled wryly, self-deprecating, "Because we can't afford it."

The Cliff City blood bank was a for-profit organization, always prioritizing private hospitals and upscale care facilities that could pay. Jici Hospital, barely surviving on church donations, simply couldn't afford the pricey annual membership fees, and neither could their patients afford blood priced by the gram.

More often, even when a surgery was needed, people would choose... to bring their own.

After all, demand creates its own supply.

When using the overpriced official blood bank wasn't an option, those desperate to survive naturally sought out less secure channels, such as...

"Illegal blood banks?!"

Tong Hua was stunned, eyes wide, "Is there such a thing?"

Wen Wen didn't speak, her expression grim.

Finally, she figured it out.

This was also why Jici Hospital didn't want to share this information upfront, unaware of how many desperate patients were relying on this lifeline—even if it was unsafe, even if it posed a risk of infection, even if it were fraught with problems. Sometimes, without this lifeline, one could only wait to die.

For someone from Cliff City Tong family like Tong Hua, with innumerable family businesses and stakes in not just one hospital, places like illegal blood banks had nothing to do with her life. Not to mention Wen Wen, a Chosen One with gold membership services at Hope Hospital; even if slashed to pieces, as long as her head was intact when brought in, those lunatics could put her back together.

These gray areas in the medical industry were far too distant for a Chosen One.

And those lurking in the shadows could just follow this invisible thread, using a few packets of blood to plant the virus of Blood Thirst within Cliff City, rooting on the suffering and despair of the innocents and quietly blossoming from the darkness.

They had finally found it.

Another set of traces they had crossed...

"Let's go, Ah Hua," Wen Wen grabbed the car keys from the table and pushed open the door.

"Huh?"

Tong Hua was confused, "Where to?"

"Find someone!"

Echoes of their departing voices reverberated down the hallway, carrying a metallic resonance.

"Then kill his entire family!"