BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53 - 53: Discovering the Doctor
Song Jian drove away from the garbage station but didn’t go far before stopping several hundred meters away from the station. In the quiet, he waited for darkness to fall. He planned to use the cover of night to infiltrate the garbage station and start his search;
If Dr. Ebsiting could not be found, his only other option was to take a risk and search Fifth Avenue. The level of danger there, compared to the outskirts of the city where the garbage station was located, was like chalk and cheese.
“They aren’t players; they’re NPCs in the game and they aren’t in league with Dr. Ebsiting. If they were, they would have at least questioned the doctor when they heard 1 was searching for him instead of outright refusing.” Song Jian leaned on his pick-up truck, staring at the distant garbage station and whispered to himself.
There was still plenty of daylight; he couldn’t afford to waste these precious hours. Song Jian chose a patch of woods just outside the highway and began to collect wood by punching the trees;
The highway was lined with many areas of woodland. Some areas were densely forested, others only had a few scattered trees. Now that Song Jian’s fists were hardened, he felt no pain when punching tree trunks, which expedited the process of gathering wood. Within three to four minutes, he could collect all the wood from a whole tree;
“In the past, 1 had to endure the pain. It would take me more than an hour to gather the wood from just one tree.” Song Jian examined the calluses on his knuckles and thought to himself.
With three to four hours left before dark, Song Jian managed to collect close to two thousand units of wood. He now had more than three thousand units, nearing four thousand. Even if he sold the excess wood to the system store, he’d get a decent return. However, for his safe house, he knew keeping the materials was essential; more was always better when constructing a safe house;
After sufficient wood gathering, Song Jian flexed his fists and glanced at a gigantic rock taller than a man;
“Maybe it’s time to gather some stone.”
Thinking this, Song Jian approached the rock and punched it hard;
Feeling a slight recoil from his fist, Song Jian cracked a smile: “It doesn’t hurt as much as 1 thought. Seems like my fists have toughened up.”
Thud, thud, thud-
Song Jian threw each punch with full force, the pain from his fists was faint. This he could easily ignore.
He collected another five hundred units of stone, finally the sky darkened;
Song Jian began to replenish his hunger and thirst levels, took a short break, checked his equipment one more time and then headed towards the garbage station;
The garbage station was surrounded by a simple steel wire fence. The wind blowing through the fence made a shuffling sound, which could help mask any noise Song Jian would inadvertently make;
Using his Corrupt Sword, Song Jian made a large hole in fence and crawled in. The garbage station was vast, with most of the area occupied by enormous heaps of trash. Only on the outskirts, near the entrance, there were a few shacks, two of which glowed faintly with dim light;
Song Jian crept closer. From one of the shacks, bouts of cheering and loud chatter could be heard. As Song Jian approached a small window on the side, he peered inside;
Inside, five or six men were gathered around a pile of jewelry and gold bricks, hooting and celebrating;
“We’re rich, and it’s all thanks to the Boss. This City of Death is a treasure trove!”
“Captain, you reckon how much we’ll all get? Can 1 afford to marry Susanna, the dancer at Old Henry’s Bar?”
“Haha, little Robin, even if you can’t take Susanna home, you can at least spend a few nights with her…”
Song Jian’s eyes were also firmly locked on the pile of gold bricks and jewelry in the center of the room. He had never seen so many jewels before, and the stacks of gold bars, there must have been forty or fifty of them. Heavy and shining with a faint glow under the dim light.
“Enough! Isn’t it shameful to lose your composure over a measly haul?” A burly man stood up and bellowed, “This is merely the inventory from a branch of Bohai Bank. Don’t forget, in this city lies a vault of the Central Bank, where half the wealth of the country is amassed. Even if you wanted to, you could buy the entirety of Old Henry’s Bar ten times over!”
His words further excited the men, they raised their glasses and erupted into a howl of cheers;
Song Jian eyed the burly man who had just stood up and was stunned: the man was as tall as himself, close to two meters, all muscle and menace. What caught Song Jian’s attention the most was his right arm, which had been cut off at the shoulder and replaced with a metal arm shining a silvery light;
Song Jian carefully withdrew. All the men had guns, and on top of them, an elite level five NPC. Rushing in rashly would be suicide. Although the pile of jewelry and gold inside was tempting, it wasn’t worth risking his life;
Another shack, located three to four meters away, was also emitting dim light. However, it was eerily quiet, no raucous laughter could be heard. Two men armed with antiquated rifles guarded the entrance. Song Jian didn’t dare get too close, afraid of alerting them;
“Phew, this accursed weather. I wish I was in there enjoying a warm drink too.” One guard cast envious looks toward the other shack and muttered.
“Another hour till our shift ends. Just hold on.” The other guard yawned.
“I don’t see why we have to guard this old coot. Just put a bullet in him and let’s be done with it.”
“Apparently he’s a doctor. He could fetch us a hefty sum. Maybe even get us connected with the Pain Queen. If that happens, we’ll be rolling in wealth. No amount of money can replace that.”
“The Pain Queen? For an old man on death’s door?”
“Who knows? But the captain seems to think so. You want to ask him yourself?”
“Are you suicidal?”
The guards conversed in hushed tones, passing time. Song Jian eavesdropped and perked up.
“Could the doctor they’re referring to be Dr. Ebsiting?”
Peering in through a broken window, he saw an old man with a head full of white hair. Fie lay still on a rickety single bed. If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Song Jian would’ve mistaken him for a corpse;
“I need to use the bathroom!”
“Be quick about it. I’m not covering for you if the captain comes around!”
“Fine, we both know the captain won’t come now…”
Song Jian watched as the guard moved towards the distant shrubbery. Seeing the guard left behind dozing with his rifle, Song Jian quietly began to approach the swath of shrubs;