Chapter 1 The Difference

A hotel is, after all, a hotel.

The difference between it and home is that staying in a hotel for too long gets tiring;

But home, you can live in for a lifetime and never get tired of it.

Everyone had already been staying in this hotel for over ten days. It was comfortable, to be sure; after all, this was considered the biggest perk the company had offered since everyone joined the Late Night Bookstore.

It's just that everyone was confined to the hotel grounds. The boss and Lao Dao didn't know exactly what the situation was;

To say they wanted to truly relax and carefree enjoy the sun, sand, and sea was impossible.

Lawyer An knocked on Lao Zhang's door, holding a pile of jade stones in his hand.

After the little boy was swindled by the jade shop across from the hotel, Lawyer An took action a few days later.

He was already well-versed in jade, and with a little bit of hypnosis, he basically took all the real, high-quality jade that was hidden away in the jade shop, at extremely low prices.

You cheated my friend first with your fakery, so I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine. No one can find fault with that.

Besides, Lawyer An never claimed to be a good person. Back when he partnered with Feng Si, they did a lot of bad things, framing good people and deceiving those above them.

These jade stones,

Everyone gets a share.

After Lao Zhang opened the door, Lawyer An was surprised to find someone else sitting in Lao Zhang's room.

He was about forty years old, with a very clear scar on his face, which looked like it was left by a gunshot.

To be honest, this kind of scar was just incredibly manly. You didn't even have to take off your clothes and pants; everyone could see it on the street.

Moreover, a scar left by a bullet sounded much more impressive than "Back in the day, I was fighting my way through Causeway Bay."

Some people have even said that tattoos are, to some extent, a continuation of humanity's fascination with "scars."

"Lao Zhang, a friend?"

Lao Zhang nodded, "Qin Sheng, from Hainan."

Then,

Lao Zhang turned and pointed at Lawyer An, saying:

"My friend, surnamed An, is a lawyer."

"Hello."

"Hello."

Lawyer An and Qin Sheng shook hands. At this point, there was no need to share the jade stones he brought.

The other person's aura screamed "police officer."

Moreover, Lao Zhang wasn't the Lao Zhang he used to be. This Qin Sheng probably knew Lao Zhang from this body's previous life.

It must be hard for Lao Zhang to have to deal with this for so long using someone else's identity.

At this moment, Qin Sheng's phone rang. He answered it and hung up.

"Something happened at the Municipal First Hospital. I have to go. Want to come along?"

As far as Qin Sheng was concerned, back when they were both anti-drug police officers, their friendship was forged in life-or-death situations. Later, Qin Sheng was injured, not only on his face, but he was also shot in the body. After he recovered, he retired from front-line anti-drug work and returned to Sanya, doing the same kind of work as Lao Zhang.

Lao Zhang hesitated, because Lawyer An had previously said that everyone should try not to run around outside these days, and wait for the final news from the boss and the others.

The reason he ran into Qin Sheng was because Lao Zhang was eating noodles at a small noodle shop outside the hotel at noon and happened to catch a pickpocket. When the police came, Qin Sheng recognized him at a glance.

Since he was bored anyway, he went back to the hotel with the other man to chat and hear stories about this body's past.

"Go."

To Lao Zhang's surprise, Lawyer An mouthed the word "go."

"Okay, let's go have a look."

"Alright, I'll go down and start the car first. Change your clothes and go straight to the hotel entrance."

Qin Sheng left first.

Lao Zhang looked at Lawyer An with some confusion, "It's okay to go?"

"Why not?"

"But we don't know what the situation is with the boss yet. If I go out rashly, will it be..."

Lawyer An yawned, rolled his eyes at Lao Zhang, and said:

"It's precisely because we're not clear about what the future of our bookstore holds that we need to be politically correct."

"............" Lao Zhang.

............

"Oops, wrong move, wrong move."

Lao Dao patted his forehead. He was forced a few times by his opponent, and he panicked, directly leading to the embarrassing situation of being checkmated.

"This game is lost. I concede, I concede. Let's play again, again."

Knowing the other person's level, Lao Dao simply conceded. He didn't even hope for a comeback.

The masked youth just nodded slightly and began to rearrange his chess pieces.

No matter what he did, he seemed to be so methodical and orderly.

The lame man was still sitting on the bed next door, just watching the two of them play chess, not looking at his phone or watching TV, and not feeling bored.

At this time,

The door of the ward was suddenly pushed open.

The first to enter were two younger men,

Holding short clubs in their hands.

"Which one is the cripple? This one!"

"Beat him!"

Without saying a word, they immediately attacked.

The lame man sitting on the bed turned his head blankly,

"Bang!"

The leader kicked the lame man,

The lame man fell to the ground, and the others who followed surrounded him and began to punch and kick him.

"Told you not to pay back the money!"

"Told you to disappear!"

"Told you to dare cheat our boss!"

"Stop hitting him, stop hitting him, you'll kill him!"

Lao Dao immediately got out of bed to pull them away.

In contrast to Lao Dao's performance,

The masked youth, who was obviously with the lame man, just sat cross-legged on the hospital bed, his face still without joy or sorrow, and he didn't say a word.

If Lao Dao hadn't been hospitalized, to be honest, even though these thugs were holding weapons, taking on three of them and taking them down wouldn't have been anything.

Lao Dao really had kung fu.

But when you come to the hospital, with a car accident, a fall, and food poisoning, even the strongest person would be exhausted.

Someone pushed him from the side,

"Mind your own business!"

Lao Dao's footing was unsteady,

And he fell back onto the bed.

"Stop hitting him, please stop hitting him, please stop hitting him!"

Lao Dao was warm-hearted and helpful. After being pushed down, he immediately got up again and continued to pull people away.

"If you keep hitting him, you'll kill him! Something bad will happen!"

Lao Dao pounced on a small thug,

This small thug was the only one holding a switchblade. The others at most had a steel bar.

Of course, he didn't dare to really use the knife.

Beating someone up and giving them a black eye and a broken bone or two was all that would happen. The knife was more of a symbolic gesture.

It was a bit like the generals who liked to carry fans when fighting in ancient Japan.

But this push from Lao Dao,

Was well-intentioned,

Who knew that this young man would also slip, and lose his footing. After being pushed by Lao Dao, he fell forward.

"Puff!"

The switchblade in his hand,

Directly stabbed into the lame man's neck.

"............" The lame man.

For a moment, blood splattered everywhere.

The thug holding the knife was stunned,

The surrounding thugs were also stunned.

The masked youth reached out and pinched a piece of fruit that the lame man had cut and placed next to him, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.

............

The gate of the Municipal First Hospital was just ahead, and many police cars had already driven in.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lao Zhang heard the preliminary situation report from Qin Sheng's subordinates on the radio.

He said in some surprise:

"There are still people who dare to be so arrogant these days? Are they out of their minds?"

Lao Zhang was clear about the situation in Tong City. All the loan sharks, including the bosses and their subordinates, had gone on vacation and didn't dare to go home;

The security department of the demolition company had also been emptied out. No one dared to stay.

But here, someone actually dared to openly lead their men to rush into a hospital?

This behavior was comparable to transporting coal from Northeast China to sell in Shanxi.

"If they were smart, they wouldn't be thugs."

Qin Sheng smiled,

Got out of the car,

And Lao Zhang followed suit.

Walking up,

The thugs were already being pressed down with their heads against the wall, all wearing handcuffs.

When they saw that someone had been killed, they were already panicked. When they saw the police arrive, no one dared to resist at all. They all raised their hands and surrendered.

"Someone died?" Lao Zhang asked.

"They're still trying to save him," Qin Sheng replied. His face was no longer as relaxed as before.

If it had just been a case of causing trouble, things would still be controllable, like watching experience points being delivered to their door.

Now, the nature of the matter was different.

"Take everyone away, collect evidence as soon as possible, clean up the scene, and don't affect the normal operation of the hospital."

"Yes, Captain."

"Where did he get stabbed?" Lao Zhang asked.

If he had only been stabbed in the arm or leg, Qin Sheng shouldn't be so solemn.

Qin Sheng turned his head to look at Lao Zhang,

And poked his neck with his finger,

"Here."

"Here?"

Lao Zhang also touched his neck.

"Stabbed through."

"Through?"

"Yeah."

"Still trying to save him?"

"Yeah, still trying to save him."

Lao Zhang didn't know what to say either,

And could only subconsciously exclaim:

"It really is a blessing from the Buddha."

............

Ward 1214,

The ward door was closed,

The air conditioner temperature was just right,

The window was slightly open to keep the air circulating,

The sweat-soaked Boss Zhou crawled with difficulty from under the bed on one side to under the bed on the opposite side,

The short distance of a few meters,

Felt like he had crawled through the entire century.

At this moment,

Zhou Ze braced his body, which had already begun to spasm,

And raised his hand,

Trying to reach the button above.

Once,

Twice,

Three times,

"Clatter!"

He didn't reach it. His arm fell to the ground weakly.

Zhou Ze lay on his back,

His chest rising and falling continuously, but he could only make extremely hoarse sounds in his throat.

Sweat had already soaked his entire body,

His face was as pale as paper,

Zhou Ze had tried his best,

But the problem was that the button to call the nurse's station was designed a bit high. Actually, it wasn't that high, but it was designed for patients to press while lying in bed...

Boss Zhou gave up,

Just then,

Zhou Ze suddenly felt something poking him under his body.

It was hard,

And cold,

With difficulty, he reached his hand down,

And Boss Zhou's face immediately became even more ugly,

In the pocket of his hospital gown,

He felt his phone.

"............" Zhou Ze.