Chapter 322

Recalling what he had just said, Su Bei immediately understood. If Meng槐 was coming to Li Family Island because of Jiang Tianming and the others, the Li family indeed couldn’t lay a hand on them.

Endless Ability Academy already knew they had come to Li Family Island. If Jiang Tianming and the others really died, the Li family would be exposed in an instant. So, unless the Li family wanted a mutually destructive outcome, they could only pray that Qi Huang and the others hadn’t discovered any secrets, or find a way to make them forget.

“Li Shu, when did you contact Endless Ability Academy?” Before Qi Huang could even mock him, the oldest brother was the first to question him angrily. “Are you crazy! I knew you had ill intentions coming back this time. The Li family raised you, and this is how you repay us?”

What Su Bei could figure out, the brother, as a party involved, naturally could as well. The thought that the Li family might be destroyed because of Li Shu’s actions filled him with uncontrollable rage, to the point where he couldn’t even be bothered to feign the affectionate term ‘little Shu’.

In any case, he never felt any real kinship for this ‘product of an ability’. Under the long-term influence of the Family Head, he never considered Li Shu his younger brother, only a tool to create profit for the Li family.

In fact, the oldest brother, who hadn’t awakened an ability, was extremely jealous that Li Shu had. That’s why he instigated their father to make Li Shu withdraw from the ability academy. A school he couldn’t get into, what right did a lowly creature like Li Shu have to attend?

Hearing his question, a flash of annoyance crossed Li Shu’s eyes, but he put on a fake smile. “What are you talking about, big brother? It’s not like the island doesn’t have a signal. If they really felt they were in danger, wouldn’t they have already contacted the academy?”

As he said this, he saw his brother’s expression shift slightly, clearly understanding. He deliberately looked up at Qi Huang above them and said loudly, “The fact that they still don’t feel any danger means they need to be taught a lesson. What’s wrong with calling a teacher to handle them?”

Being mocked by this guy, Qi Huang was furious and immediately flung two fireballs down. “You bastard, if I ever bother with you again, I’m a dog!”

Amidst Qi Huang’s one-sided assault, the oldest brother gradually came to his senses. That’s right. If they had really discovered something, they would have told the academy long ago. Catching them now was useless and no different from Li Shu calling Meng Huai over.

And from the looks of it, Qi Huang really hadn’t discovered anything. In that case, a teacher from Endless Ability Academy coming over posed no danger.

Seeing that Li Shu had resolved the crisis of trust, Su Bei withdrew his gaze and looked elsewhere. There were a total of three villas around the one the oldest brother was in. The Family Head’s villa was likely among them. Standing in the middle and sensing with his Mental Energy, he quickly locked onto the one on the left.

It was simple: the leftmost villa had the most guards.

He had gotten this inspiration from the oldest brother’s villa earlier. The most heavily and strictly guarded place had to be the Family Head’s room.

He had to admit, this incident was just a side quest, far easier than before. Previously, Su Bei often encountered guardians who also possessed Advanced Mental Energy during his explorations, forcing him to be cautious.

But this time, there were none! The Li family’s nearly non-existent foundation was not enough to support having an Advanced Mental Energy user as a permanent guard; that would be an outrageous waste.

Happily sweeping the area with his Mental Energy and confirming everyone’s position in the villa, Su Bei headed straight for the fourth floor. Unlike the oldest brother who was outside, the Family Head was in his room, which saved Su Bei the process of finding it.

A new problem arose. Without the ability to pass through walls, or even the Family Head’s field of vision, how was he supposed to enter this locked room with someone inside?

Su Bei stood at the door, lost in thought. Perhaps he should change his plan and use his enhancement opportunity on this—to see the Destiny Compass without a direct line of sight?

Wait, he could actually do that.

Su Bei immediately went back, entered the oldest brother’s room, and picked up the photograph. His ability didn’t just work on people in person; it worked on their photographs as well.

Looking at the Destiny Compass above the Family Head’s head in the photo, Su Bei adjusted the Major Destiny Pointer to the “Leave the room” position. Then, after returning to the door, he used the instant skill.

In less than five seconds, the door opened. A middle-aged man, much older than in the photo, walked out, holding a phone as if he were reading a message. Using his super-strong vision and excellent height, Su Bei craned his neck from a distance to see the screen and quickly read the contents.

It was a message from someone with the surname Li, asking him to come to the operating room to oversee things. Due to the commotion outside, the guests were now untrusting of the island’s security.

Su Bei withdrew his gaze, watched the Family Head leave, and then slipped into the bedroom.

The overall tone of the Family Head’s bedroom was a New Chinese style. Various dark-toned solid wood furniture was arranged, giving off a deep and luxurious feeling. Because of this, the room was not equipped with overly modern things like a computer.

As usual, he first rummaged through the drawers, the bedside table, under the mattress… He couldn’t find anything resembling an account book in any of these places. The room was unnaturally clean. Su Bei temporarily stopped his search, standing still to think about where the Family Head might hide it.

First, it had to be in this room. The Family Head would surely carry something as important as the account book with him or keep it in a place he frequented. After all, a ledger is for bookkeeping and needs to be used often; it couldn’t possibly be locked away and forgotten.

At first, Su Bei suspected he might have hidden it in a storage space, which was undoubtedly the safest place.

But he quickly dismissed this idea. While a storage space was safe, it was also extremely fickle. It could be said that whoever possessed it, it would serve them.

Even if some storage rings had an ownership function, there were always ways for Ability users to break it.

So if the Family Head really carried the account book in a storage space and was caught for some reason, the Li family’s secret would be immediately exposed. In comparison, leaving the account book on Li Family Island, in his room, was safer.

But where exactly in the room? Although he hadn’t conducted a carpet search, he had gone through all the obvious hiding places. While he knew the account book wouldn’t be found so easily, the complete lack of clues was still frustrating.

Where in the room could the account book be?

A secret room was a possibility. The existence of the operating room showed that the Li family had a habit of hiding things in secret rooms. But if one thing was already hidden in a secret room, wouldn’t hiding the account book in another secret room make it easy for everything to be discovered at once?

A hidden compartment was also possible. Su Bei maxed out his luck value and began to feel around the room, hoping that, like before, he would accidentally touch some mechanism and find what he was looking for.

But luck wasn’t omnipotent. After searching for a full ten minutes, Su Bei still hadn’t found anything.

“Did I guess wrong? Is it really not here?” Su Bei finally gave up, stopping and muttering to himself.

The next second, he took out several shonen manga he had carefully selected from his storage space and began flipping through similar scenes. Scenes of searching an enemy’s room behind their back were common in many shonen manga. Since this world was created by the author, even if the manga within wasn’t personally designed by him, it must still be a reflection of his consciousness.

Of the three manga, two had relevant content. In one, the treasure was in a secret room, while in the other, the secret was in a pillow.

That’s right, a pillow was also a prime spot for hiding things. Su Bei’s gaze fell on the pillow. He had actually checked the pillow earlier, but had only shaken it. Since there was no issue with the weight or feel, he hadn’t looked closely.

But now, not tearing it open to see would be a disservice to the manga he just read. Su Bei decided to cause a little destruction.

Tearing open the pillow, he first poured out the fluff inside but saw nothing. Then, on a whim, he turned the pillowcase inside out and actually saw an account book—as a two-dimensional flat image.

Su Bei: “…”

What kind of item was this, that could turn a three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional image? His mind was full of question marks as he reached out and touched the account book pattern. It had a faint paper-like texture, but unfortunately, the pattern showed no sign of turning back because of his touch.

What should one do when faced with unclear information? Open the “Destiny” organization’s notebook, of course! He wasn’t fighting alone; he had thousands of pieces of information to support him!

Opening the notebook and searching for “item that turns 3D into 2D” with a keyword search, Su Bei quickly found what he was looking for—[Plane Transformation Pen].

By using this item to draw a closed outline around an object, you could transform a three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional one.

The restoration method was also simple: just soak it in water.

Having found the method, Su Bei immediately took the pillowcase to the bathroom and turned the faucet on to the lowest setting to avoid soaking the account book.

A stream of water fell onto the pattern on the pillowcase, and a magical scene occurred. The location of the account book continuously absorbed water, and in a short while, it actually swelled up and became three-dimensional, quickly turning into the familiar notebook.

He promptly turned off the faucet and began to look through the account book.

The contents were just as he had expected, recording the Li family’s organ trades over the years. The book not only recorded the quantity and amount of the transactions but even listed the trading partners!

Although Su Bei wasn’t sure if the buyers’ actions were illegal, once this account book was made public, it would definitely cause great damage to their reputations. After all, regardless of legality, the matter was absolutely immoral.

Putting the notebook away, Su Bei’s expression instantly relaxed. The next step was to appear with the notebook at a critical moment, guide the Li family members to attack him, and then figure out a plot to evade all their attacks. This required careful planning, but before that, there was one more thing he was curious about.

“Huh? There’s nothing?” After searching for the Li Family Head’s ability information in the notebook, Su Bei found nothing at all.

After a brief moment of surprise, he quickly understood. The “Destiny” organization didn’t collect intelligence on just any riffraff. A family like the Lis, who used their abilities to amass wealth in the ordinary world and had very little influence, was clearly not qualified to be included in “Destiny’s” intelligence database.

Realizing this, Su Bei couldn’t help but chuckle. He never thought that the organization’s high standards could sometimes be a disadvantage. But every cloud has a silver lining, and he had no intention of changing it.

The pillow couldn’t be restored to its original state, but fortunately, Su Bei had no intention of hiding the fact that he had obtained the account book. He wanted to announce it openly; otherwise, how would the people on Li Family Island attack him?

Speaking of their attacks, Su Bei began to search through the items in the “Destiny” organization’s inventory. If he remembered correctly, there was an item that would allow him to dodge all attacks for a certain period of time.

That’s right, Su Bei needed to dodge the attacks, not just be immune to them. If he simply put up a protective shield to not get hit, it would have little connection to his ability, and it would be easy for people to guess it was the work of an item, not his own ability.

Only by finding a way to dodge all attacks, and doing so effortlessly without any special movements, could he guide the readers to associate it with the cause-and-effect aspect of destiny-type abilities. This would make his own explanation seem logical when he gave it.

It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for—an “Evasion Max Sticker.”

This item would max out the user’s evasion for the next five minutes, including evading enemy attacks and attacks against enemies. This meant that within these five minutes, the user could avoid any attack, and at the same time, any attack would not harm bystanders.

It was a very magical item, but because its drawback was also obvious, it wasn’t expensive. However, its drawback really only applied to humans; if used on an object, it could be said to have no drawbacks at all.

Su Bei planned to stick the sticker on the account book. No matter how they attacked, the account book could achieve 100% evasion. All he needed to do was hold on tight to the account book, because if he let go, even he wouldn’t be able to grab it again within the five minutes.

Leaving the room with the account book, Su Bei, relying on his Invisibility Talisman, openly arrived at the operating room. Because his actions had been quite swift, the surgery had only just begun.

A gaunt, emaciated bald man who looked on the verge of death was sitting in a wheelchair, with several people attending to him. On the operating table lay a pink-haired young man who looked barely an adult. His eyes were tightly closed, as if asleep; he must have already been anesthetized.

The doctor, holding a scalpel, was cutting open his abdomen to remove the organs inside. It was clear they planned to harvest and transplant immediately, installing the organ into the patient right after removal.

As for what would happen to the person whose organs were taken, Su Bei didn’t know. After all, one can live even if missing an organ, provided the missing organ isn’t something unique like the heart, and that they would really only take one organ.

But if one organ could be sold, would the Li family leave the rest? It was more likely that they would strip him of every last bit of value, then discard him as waste.

Thinking about it this way, the Li family was basically running their own domestic version of a Southeast Asian organ harvesting ring.

A bloody kidney was removed. The sickly man outside finally showed some signs of life, his eyes glowing as he stared at the kidney, as if it weren’t a human organ but a panacea that could save him. And in fact, that was true.

After removing one organ from the pink-haired youth, the doctor didn’t stop, but continued to remove other organs. In any case, all of his organs were to contribute to the Li family. Instead of treating him once, removing an organ, treating him again, and removing another, it was better to remove them all at once. After all, their family had perfect preservation technology, so there was no need to worry about the removed organs losing their viability.

Seeing that they clearly had no intention of stopping the surgery, Su Bei immediately understood their goal. They had no intention of letting the man live at all!

Should I intervene and save him? Su Bei pondered on the spot. It wasn’t too late to save him now. One could live a normal life with one less kidney. If they removed another organ, it would be much harder to keep the person alive.

But saving someone didn’t fit his persona. Besides, as a child raised by the Li family since he was young, the person undergoing surgery had a probability of being brainwashed that was at least 90%, if not 100%.

If he saved him then, he would likely be met with complaints instead of gratitude. Su Bei would only help those who asked him for help. Heaven helps those who help themselves. He wouldn’t get involved in such troublesome and unrewarding matters.

Su Bei stood aside with his arms crossed, watching and waiting for the surgery to end so he could retrieve his camera from inside the operating room. Seeing how calm everyone in the operating room was, Su Bei estimated they probably hadn’t discovered the hidden camera he had planted. If they had, this surgery couldn’t have proceeded so smoothly.

Compared to a single transaction, the Li family’s safety was certainly more important. Knowing that someone suspected them, the Li family members would not have continued the surgery, even at the risk of offending the client.

“Ugh… so painful…” Suddenly, the young man on the hospital bed groggily opened his eyes, and the next second, he was groaning in pain from the torment in his abdomen.

The doctor was clearly surprised that he had woken up, but there had been people with a higher tolerance for anesthetics before. So he immediately exchanged a look with his colleague next to him, signaling them to get an anesthetic needle.

Then he said kindly to the young man, “Good boy, don’t be afraid, it won’t hurt soon.”

“I… Hiss! It hurts… Is my surgery over?” The young man sucked in a sharp breath, asking haltingly while enduring the intense pain. He had just remembered what he was here for.

The doctor patiently reassured him, “Not yet, but it will be soon. After you take a nap, everything will be over.”

The young man trusted the doctor completely and closed his eyes again, waiting for them to inject him with the anesthetic.

However, at that moment, the sickly buyer suddenly spoke up, “Wait, if you remove his kidney while he’s awake, will it be a bit more viable?”

What a hellish thought. The doctor frowned slightly, guessing what he wanted. Out of pity for the young man, he shook his head and replied, “No, the result is the same in both states.”

“Really? You’re not lying to me, are you?” the buyer asked suspiciously. After a moment’s thought, without giving the doctor a chance to explain, he said bluntly, “Well, since the result is the same, I want the kidney that’s removed while he’s awake.”

Cursing inwardly, the doctor tried to refuse as tactfully as possible, “That’s not…”

“I’ll add more money!” The buyer signaled to the assistant beside him to take out a black card from a bag. “Is a hundred thousand enough? If not, two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand. I have plenty of money!”

This time, the doctor didn’t hesitate anymore. Their family was in this business to make money. Since the other party was willing to add more, he wouldn’t hold any extra pity for this person who was going to die anyway. If he had that kind of pity, he wouldn’t be able to do this job at all.

“No problem, we will of course satisfy our customer’s wishes.”

The doctor signaled the assistant beside him to put down the anesthetic needle, then said softly to the wide-eyed young man, “The time has come for the family to need you. You can endure this little bit of pain, right?”

“I… I…” Tears unknowingly streamed from the young man’s eyes, whether they were physiological tears or tears of fear.

Knowing he had no choice, he could only nod slowly and with difficulty, “I can.”

However, before the doctor could show a pleased expression, the young man couldn’t help but ask, full of hope and uncertainty, “I’ll be able to get off this operating table safely, right? My sister, she’s still waiting for me to come back.”

“Of course,” the doctor promised expertly. “I guarantee you will leave this operating table alive. I remember your sister is named Qingqing. What a cute little girl. She will definitely be proud of you.”

Apparently, his reassurance was very successful. Most of the fear in the young man’s eyes disappeared, and a faint smile even appeared on his face. Just as Su Bei thought, he had been deceived and brainwashed.

“What’s the situation, why isn’t it done yet?” Just as they were about to continue the surgery, Li Shu walked in and then politely said to the buyer, “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Hearing this, Su Bei couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. What was Li Shu’s role in this surgery? Was it so important that the Family Head made him drop out of the S-Class at Endless Ability Academy just to come back for it?

Soon, the buyer answered his question: “You illusion masters are hard to book. They said you can let me have a sweet dream during the surgery, and my body will fully recover after I wake up. I paid a high price for this service. You won’t disappoint me, will you?”

“Satisfying our customers is our principle,” Li Shu said confidently, clearly extremely self-assured about his ability.

However, Su Bei, who was eavesdropping on the side, was completely confused. The part about having a sweet dream was understandable; it wasn’t difficult for [Illusion] to achieve that. But what about the part that followed?

If his memory hadn’t been tampered with, he clearly remembered that Li Shu’s ability was [Illusion]. When did this ability gain a healing effect?

Forget Li Shu, no one in their S-Class had a healing ability. The only healing-type Ability user Su Bei was somewhat familiar with was Ye Lin.

Wait… Ye Lin?

Su Bei’s expression suddenly turned strange.

Could Li Shu be secretly cooperating with Ye Lin? Cooperating with her after dropping out of school couldn’t be considered a betrayal. Besides, Ye Lin herself had intentions of defecting.

First, it was certain that Li Shu’s ability had absolutely no healing properties. He couldn’t possibly be planning to use an illusion to create a fake impression of the wound being healed, right? Firstly, that would definitely be easily exposed. Secondly, the disadvantages completely outweighed the benefits.

This healing project was just an icing on the cake, an accessory to the organ transplant, not a necessity. The Li family members weren’t fools. Why would they take the risk of ruining their reputation just to put on a brave front?

So after thinking it over, the most reasonable explanation was that he had cooperated with Ye Lin. Ye Lin’s ability could indeed easily achieve a scar-free post-surgery recovery.