Chapter 653 — Just Throw It Away

The tattooed man was briefly taken aback. Could something have gone wrong on An Jianwen's end? He thought of calling again, but feared An Jianwen would blame him for it, so he said to Dr. Wang, "Same as before — find someone to dump him at the hospital entrance."

Wei Zhao had had a kidney cut out of him. If he did not stay in the hospital for a stretch of treatment, he would very likely die. The tattooed man knew that An Jianwen meant to teach Wei Zhao a lesson, but he absolutely could not be killed here! Had An Jianwen wanted him dead, he would not have taken a single kidney — he might well have taken both.

So the tattooed man hesitated a moment, then settled on the old method: dump Wei Zhao straight at the hospital gate, and someone would naturally see to his rescue.

Zhong Fabai, profuse in thanks, took Zhong Yongliang home to rest and recover, and the tattooed man of course had to drive the Zhong father and son back himself — because when they had come, and to keep the two of them from learning the headquarters' location, he had deliberately brought a business van with a fully sealed rear compartment.

As for the wretched An Jianwen, Dr. Wang waved his hand with great authority, and several burly men came in, dragged him out of the operating room as though hauling a corpse, tossed him at random into a battered, unlicensed van, and set off toward the hospital. As they passed the First People's Hospital, An Jianwen was flung down at the hospital gate like a dead dog, and the van sped off in a cloud of dust...

After delivering the Zhongs to the hospital, the tattooed man drove back to the headquarters of the kidney-harvesting ring. But to his surprise, he had scarcely arrived when he received a call from the hook-nosed man.

"Brother Tattoo, we're in trouble — the girl in the dungeon has run off!" The hook-nosed man was sweating with panic. He had earlier pumped an aphrodisiac into the dungeon. His original plan had been to check on Qiu Lingshan through the surveillance feed, but then it struck him: this girl was for Brother Tattoo to enjoy, and if he himself laid eyes on certain unsuitable images ahead of time, might Brother Tattoo hold it against him? At that thought, the hook-nosed man had not dared watch the recording.

Later, though, on reflection, he felt it was not safe — who knew whether the aphrodisiac had taken effect? So he went to the monitoring room and pulled up the footage, only to discover, to his astonishment, that the screen showed nothing but a signal interruption.

Alarmed, the hook-nosed man rushed to the dungeon to see for himself, and what he found there gave him a fright. The iron door of the dungeon had been forcibly broken open, and Qiu Lingshan was long gone.

The hook-nosed man went pale with shock and at once telephoned the tattooed man with the news — which was why the tattooed man received that call the moment he got back to headquarters.

"Run off? How could she run off? Run off where?" The tattooed man was startled too, and demanded at once. This was Qiu Lingshan of the criminal investigation squad — no joking matter. If she really got away, would the headquarters not be raided right behind her?

"I don't know either — the surveillance footage in the dungeon has been destroyed..." the hook-nosed man said cautiously.

"Didn't I tell you to drug her? How could she still get away?" The tattooed man was beside himself with rage. Surely the hook-nosed man had not forgotten?

"I did! I did as you ordered — I gave her the aphrodisiac and waited for you to come and have her. How was I to know the girl could still run?" the hook-nosed man said, his face puckered with grievance.

"What? An aphrodisiac? Who told you to give her an aphrodisiac?" At these words the tattooed man nearly went mad with fury! An aphrodisiac for Qiu Lingshan? Was he out of his mind?

"You did..." The hook-nosed man could not see what he had done wrong. "Wasn't it you who said to give her a drug?"

"I told you to drug her — not to give her an aphrodisiac!" The tattooed man was so angry he nearly rolled his eyes. This fellow was far too fond of acting on his own and twisting his meaning.

"Huh? You said earlier that you wanted to enjoy this girl... I thought you meant for me to give her the aphrodisiac..." the hook-nosed man said, deeply wronged.

"Damn it! Now we're in trouble!" Hearing the hook-nosed man's explanation, the tattooed man understood how the misunderstanding had come about. In truth the blame was not entirely the hook-nosed man's — he himself had failed to say it clearly, and so the mistake had been made.

Qiu Lingshan was a Yellow-rank expert; without the drug she would surely have woken, and her escape was no wonder at all. The crucial question was: where had she gone? Was she still near headquarters, or had she already gotten out?

"Brother Tattoo, have I made a mess of things?" The hook-nosed man had caught on that this was no simple matter. By rights, a kidnapped kidney source who ran off had simply run off — no need for such alarm. But the tattooed man's reaction was plainly something else entirely.

"Close the headquarters gates at once, and search everywhere for the girl!" The tattooed man had no choice but to decide on the spot, ordering the hook-nosed man into action. He feared that any further delay would be too late — once Qiu Lingshan got out of headquarters and could contact the outside world, it would all be over.

Only after giving the order did the tattooed man hurry to dial An Jianwen's number...

When Wei Zhao left, he first went to the room where he had been held and put on his clothes, then casually tossed An Jianwen's clothes and phone onto the floor inside.

So when the tattooed man called, the phone rang until it hung up automatically, and no one answered. Frantic, with no other recourse, he could only dial An Jianwen's number again and again.

One way or another, this matter had to be reported to An Jianwen at the first opportunity, so that preparations could be made; otherwise, if Qiu Lingshan really had broken free, not one of them would get away.

Suddenly the wail of sirens rose outside the window, wave upon wave. Startled, the tattooed man looked up and saw that the area around headquarters had been surrounded by dozens of police cars, among them no few SWAT vehicles. Red and blue lights flashed in alternation — a spectacular sight.

The tattooed man smiled a bleak smile. It was over, truly over. His remedial measures had plainly come too late: Qiu Lingshan had escaped long since, and had mustered a force to surround his headquarters.

At this moment the tattooed man no longer even considered resisting or fleeing. Surrounded by so much police power, unless he could turn invisible or was Ultraman himself, there was no way he could fly out of this net.

Only — where had An Jianwen gone? In his heart the tattooed man hoped An Jianwen was not at headquarters at this moment. That way, so long as An Jianwen was safe, he himself could rest easy.

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