The Huang Residence.

After Huang Sheng hung up the phone, his face was dark.

Standing beside him, a pale-faced Huang Zhenyang hastily asked, "How did it go? He didn't betray us, did he?"

"Definitely not."

Huang Sheng took a deep breath to suppress his anger. "Xu Ke turned the heat onto Peng Hetong."

Huang Zhenyang sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

Then, he started to complain. "What were you and Big Brother thinking, telling him about this for no reason? Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

Huang Sheng gritted his teeth. "I only told him about it ten minutes beforehand. How could I have possibly expected him to hack the entire program so quickly? That thing Jin Hankang brought over is completely unreliable."

Seeing this, Huang Zhenyang muttered while shaking his head, "We need to be more careful in the future. It wouldn't have hurt us to keep Xu Ke out of the top three. You guys took too big a risk. How could you do something like this..."

"If you want to play armchair general, go tell my father!" Huang Sheng snapped.

He was already on edge, and hearing Huang Zhenyang drone on only irritated him further.

Scolded into silence, Huang Zhenyang said no more, though in his heart he dared only to silently resent Huang Sheng and his father.

When the results of the Tianhai Martial Alliance's drawing had reached the Huang Residence, Huang Sheng had been completely dumbfounded. They had thought they could reap benefits from both sides, only to realize that Xu Ke had played them for fools. What was most infuriating was that they had walked right into the trap themselves.

The thought alone sent Huang Sheng into a rage.

"No, we have to find a way to help Qian Jun and his men. Otherwise, the suspicion will eventually fall on us," Huang Sheng said, suddenly standing up after a moment of thought.

Huang Zhenyang was startled. "Why? Can't we just sit back and watch? Didn't you say they only suspect Peng Hetong?"

Huang Sheng bit his lip. "Just because they suspect Peng Hetong doesn't mean they won't suspect us. After all, only a few of us knew about the drawing procedure. Anyone is a suspect."

"Then what do we do?" Huang Zhenyang panicked.

Huang Sheng patiently explained, "Leaking the insider information to Xu Ke beforehand was to ensure he could make it to the finals, right? So, if we proactively find someone to injure him now, it will make it much harder for him to reach the finals. The underlying motives of these two actions conflict with each other. This way, Wong Ting will think we're less likely to be the culprits."

Huang Zhenyang was taken aback. "Oh, I see…"

Seeing his dazed expression, Huang Sheng couldn't be bothered to explain further. He got up and headed for Huang Zhendong's office. He needed his father to find someone to make a move. He just so happened to know a person who had wanted Xu Ke dead for a very long time.

...

After hanging up on Huang Sheng, Xu Ke confirmed Xu Yi's situation with Tang Yingchang—those men had really retreated.

Upon hearing this, Xu Ke began to ponder. Why is their behavior so strange? Everything about it feels off.

After mulling it over for a while without reaching a conclusion, Xu Ke could only ask Tang Yingchang to keep an eye on things. Then, he hung up and took out his medicinal herbs to begin cultivating. He hadn't taken any medicinal baths recently, relying only on simple cultivation. Now, in preparation for the next day's competition, he had to be more cautious. Although his opponents would all be at the Innate Middle Stage, who knew what insidious tricks they might have up their sleeves.

Better to be safe than sorry!

...

Xu Ke was cultivating until four in the afternoon when he suddenly got a call from the clinic.

"What's up?" Xu Ke asked, wiping himself down.

Duan Jia's voice sounded strange. "Dr. Xu, are you available right now?"

"I'm cultivating for tomorrow's match," Xu Ke replied honestly, implying that he wouldn't be going out unless it was important.

"Uh..." Duan Jia hesitated, debating whether or not he should tell Xu Ke.

With a sigh of resignation, Xu Ke said, "Just spit it out. What is it?"

"Well, there's an elderly man with an elderly woman, and they're insisting on seeing a doctor."

Xu Ke was stunned. "Didn't you tell them we haven't opened for business yet?"

"I did, but they refuse to leave!"

"Call an ambulance and have them taken away." Sensing something was off, Xu Ke was still reluctant to go out.

Duan Jia hesitated. "They say the hospital won't admit them. Mister Dongfang just went to take a look. The old woman's thigh is badly rotted; it's turning purple and smells awful. We don't know what's wrong with it."

Turning purple and stinking? A hospital refused to admit them?

"Even so, this clinic isn't open, so we can't just see patients randomly..." Xu Ke shook his head.

For strangers to show up out of the blue at a time like this... something is definitely wrong!

"But..." Duan Jia persisted. "A large crowd has gathered here. I don't know where they came from. Anyway, they're threatening to ruin our reputation if we don't treat the old couple.

"My first thought was to call the police and have the authorities disperse them. After all, we're not open for business—we don't even have a sign up—so they can't really say anything against us. But I'm not sure how that might affect our future reputation. That's why I wanted to get your opinion, Dr. Xu."

Duan Jia knew there was something fishy about their sudden appearance. If this had been one of Dapeng Commerce's properties, he would have sent his own men to deal with it long ago. But this was Xu Ke's clinic, so he had to ask first.

Hearing this, Xu Ke's brow furrowed. So these two came prepared?

Then, Xu Ke said, "Alright, wait for me."

"Okay!"

...

The clinic wasn't far from Junyue Residence, so Xu Ke got there quickly. When he arrived at the entrance, he saw that the usually quiet street was now bustling with noise. A crowd had formed a circle, their mood angry and agitated.

In the center of the circle were five people. Three were Xu Ke's men: Duan Jia, Chen Haiming, and Dongfang Mingliang. The remaining two were an old woman in a wheelchair, wrapped up tightly with pale, gray-white hair and a ghastly complexion, and, next to her, an elderly man in a green military coat. He had a simple, honest face, now etched with anxiety and a hint of pleading. Through a small hole in his coat pocket, a wad of crumpled banknotes was vaguely visible...

They looked just like any other ordinary elderly couple!

As Xu Ke calmly drew closer, he caught the foul stench of leaking pus.

Catching the scent, Xu Ke was slightly startled. This smell... isn't this...

"Where is your doctor? How can you refuse to even look at a patient? Do you people have any humanity?"

"Or do you not have a doctor at all? Who opens a clinic without a doctor? You're not trying to scam people, are you?"

"Show us your credentials!"

Several sharp voices were angrily berating Duan Jia, their tone aggressive.

Duan Jia raised his hands in a helpless gesture. "The clinic isn't open yet. Isn't it normal for the doctor to be away? Please, just be patient!"

Someone in the crowd shouted angrily, "That's not what you were saying just now! If we hadn't spoken up for them, would you be telling us to be patient? You would've just chased this poor old woman away!"

"We're not asking you to cure her this instant! The poor woman is in such a miserable state. Would it kill you to just take a look?"

"You have no medical ethics! You're inhuman!"