In Dr. Zhao’s room, he was currently sweating profusely as he examined Chen Junnan’s wounds.
He felt the situation was rather tricky.
The man’s injuries weren’t purely cuts but also mixed with contusions, as if what had left him battered wasn’t a blade but sharp awls. These awls had pierced his body before being dragged vertically, tearing large patches of skin while creating wounds.
An ordinary person would never have remained conscious under such pain, yet this man was still awake.
Had he suffered injuries like this many times before?
“Hey… buddy,” Dr. Zhao patted Chen Junnan’s face. “You can’t fall asleep now. We don’t have any anesthesia, just some basic tools to treat your wounds… You have to keep talking to me, got it?”
“Damn it… Like hell I know…” Chen Junnan muttered under his breath, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.
Dr. Zhao rummaged through the supplies prepared by “Paradise Entrance.” There were plenty of scissors and knives, but none met medical standards—most seemed to be stationery from the school. There were no needles or thread, and the only usable item was likely…
From the pile of tools, Dr. Zhao picked up a stapler, opened it, and checked the staples inside. Given how crude their conditions were, the stapler might be their best option now.
Chen Junnan turned his head to look at Dr. Zhao, swallowing nervously with an extremely complicated expression. “Hold on… Can I say a couple of words?”
“Sure, but we have to keep talking,” Dr. Zhao said, securing the stapler before separating the base and the main body. He bent down to examine Chen Junnan’s wounds. “We need to keep chatting while I treat you—you absolutely can’t fall asleep.”
“You…” Chen Junnan gave Dr. Zhao a helpless look. “I mean… Every time you treat someone, it’s like you turn into a different person.”
“Really?” Dr. Zhao didn’t look up. He pinched the wound on Chen Junnan’s abdomen and pressed the stapler’s body against it with a sharp *click*, fastening the wound shut. Then, using scissors, he bent the protruding staple inward to flatten it.
He found that this method could indeed temporarily close the wound, and his tense heart finally eased a little.
After all, blood would gradually clot. The only thing they could do now was minimize the wound’s surface area to prevent excessive bleeding.
“Hey, don’t fall asleep,” Dr. Zhao wiped his sweat and asked again, “Tell me, what’s on your mind right now?”
“I want to die,” Chen Junnan said coldly.
“Huh? Oh no…” Dr. Zhao flustered. “This guy’s already delirious. Too bad we don’t have the means for a blood transfusion here. Just hang in there…”
Xu Qian and Yan Zhichun sat in the corner of the room, watching Dr. Zhao treat Chen Junnan, unsure how to help.
Yun Yao had left the room shortly after entering, her whereabouts unknown. Now, the only people left in the room were Han Yimo, Old Lü, and the bespectacled man who had brought Chen Junnan here.
“Doctor… will he survive?” Xu Qian asked timidly.
“Hard to say…” Dr. Zhao shook his head. “I’m not experienced with injuries like this. Whether he lives depends on his fate.”
“My fate sucks… Just let me die…” Chen Junnan weakly raised a hand, trying to push Dr. Zhao away, but he had no strength left.
“He’s already this out of it…” Xu Qian said worriedly. “Even if he survives, will he be brain-damaged?”
“Qian-jie…” Chen Junnan chuckled bitterly at Xu Qian. “Why won’t you guys believe me? Can someone just come over and kill me already?”
Not long after, Yun Yao pushed the door open and entered. She glanced at Chen Junnan’s condition, relieved to see he wasn’t dead yet.
Behind her were a few others—one was a fair-skinned girl with delicate features, Li Xiangling.
Another was an elegant woman in her forties or fifties, Aunt Tong.
The third was a scantily clad girl, Tian Tian, who hadn’t been seen for the past couple of days.
Seeing Aunt Tong enter, Old Lü immediately stood up, rubbing his hands respectfully. “Xiao Chan, what brings you here?”
Aunt Tong frowned. “Don’t call me Xiao Chan… There are kids present.”
“Ah! Right, right!” Old Lü nodded, turning to the others. “Teacher Tong is here—show some respect.”
No one in the room paid him any attention.
“Yun Yao-jie…” Li Xiangling asked hesitantly, “Why did you call me here…?”
Yun Yao thought for a moment before answering. “Xiangling, Aunt Tong, and you, Glasses. You were among the few who achieved ‘Echo’ last time. I need you to witness something here.”
“Witness something…?”
Yun Yao pulled out the withered, snake-like head of Earth Snake from under the table and placed it on the surface.
Everyone’s expressions changed at the sight.
This wasn’t a mask or a human head—it was the genuine skull of an Earth-level “Zodiac.”
“What is this…?” Aunt Tong asked, visibly shaken.
“Aunt Tong, you’re a veteran of ‘Paradise Entrance,’” Yun Yao said. “Later, I’ll need you to speak fairly.”
Before Yun Yao could explain further, Chu Tianqiu pushed the door open and walked in. Strangely, Jin Yuanxun, who usually stuck to him like a shadow, was nowhere to be seen.
After entering, Chu Tianqiu glanced around the room and smiled faintly. “What’s going on? Quite the gathering.”
Yun Yao eyed him warily. “Where are Zhang Shan and Xu Liunian?”
“Zhang Shan took Xiao Nian on a mission,” Chu Tianqiu replied, pulling up a chair and sitting down directly across from Earth Snake’s head—yet he acted as if it wasn’t even there. “What did you want to tell us?”
“Since you asked, I’ll be blunt.” Yun Yao adjusted Earth Snake’s head, positioning its dead eyes directly at Chu Tianqiu. “Today, a man gambled his life and killed a ‘Zodiac.’ In other words, what you, Chu Tianqiu, failed to achieve for years, he accomplished.”
“Oh?” Chu Tianqiu raised an eyebrow. “That’s truly impressive. Where is he? I’d like to meet him.”
Yun Yao hesitated. The classroom wasn’t that big—Dr. Zhao had been treating Chen Junnan the entire time. Was Chu Tianqiu pretending not to see him?
“That man is Chen Junnan,” Yun Yao said. “His existence proves that gambling against an Earth-level ‘Zodiac’ isn’t a guaranteed loss. With proper tactics, extraordinary courage, and a usable ‘Echo,’ anyone can challenge a ‘Zodiac.’”
Aunt Tong and Li Xiangling turned to look at Chen Junnan’s injuries. They felt Yun Yao might be overestimating things—while the man wasn’t dead yet, he was practically no different from a corpse.
“So it’s him?!” Chu Tianqiu stood up excitedly. “That’s wonderful! It seems he’s more suited to lead ‘Paradise Entrance’ than I am, right?”
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