Li Mazi began to fabricate a random story and said that the rich woman’s husband was Yuan Chonghuan in his previous life. People had plotted against him, which eventually led to his death; that was why he hated traitors. After he was reincarnated, there was still a traitor in his life, thus the anger and desire to kill that person. 

I was afraid that the more Li Mazi talked, the more problems he could cause. I faked a cough and pulled him back to the topic of the otherworldly item. 

“It’s not that we don’t have a solution to deal with this problem, but we must find something that has a close relation with Yuan Chonghuan first. If I am not wrong, this big cannon used to be the item he and his subordinates used. May I ask how you got this cannon?” asked Li Mazi.

“We know a famous Daoist priest that is very good at fortune-telling. I consult him about everything I do. I did the same when my husband got sick.” 

When she discovered that her husband had a brain tumor, she went to that priest to check her husband’s fate. The priest told her that her husband might not be able to survive this tribulation. The rich woman was scared and begged him to save her husband at any cost. 

The Daoist priest contemplated for quite a long time before saying, “We need an item that can protect your husband and save his life. It might be best if you could find some ancient firearms. Blood will be spilled during the surgery, so it’s an event related to the metal tribulation. Fire, on the other hand, has the power to subdue the metal tribulation.”

The woman immediately sent her people to look around. Coincidentally, they soon found an antique merchant who said that he had a Red Barbarian Cannon from the Ming dynasty. The merchant said that he would sell it at the price of ten million renminbi. The rich woman didn’t think twice before buying it. 

I listened to her story and had a feeling that she was tricked and unknowingly took home an otherworldly item. 

Placing an otherworldly item in the operation room to turn a bad situation into a good one was a brainless thing to do. 

Anybody in this business would shake their head if they heard this story.

No matter how good a man’s vitality was, the moment his chest or abdomen was cut open, his Yang energy would be weakened. At that point, it was easy to attract evil spirits. If an otherworldly item was placed near him, he would be possessed in the best case, and be killed in the worst.

The tycoon was lucky that the doctors were skilled.

Li Mazi nodded. “Let me tell you something, we are actually otherworldly item merchants. We’ve dealt with dozens of otherworldly items, big and small. But according to the rule in this business, after the case is solved, we’ll take the otherworldly item.”

The rich woman asked in puzzlement, “Otherworldly item? Do you mean this big cannon? That’s fine. As long as you can save my husband, you can take the cannon. And, I will pay you ten million renminbi as a commission.”

“Ten million…” Li Mazi gasped. He faked a cough to cover his excitement. Let alone him, when I heard this number, I also felt my legs turn into jelly. 

Li Mazi pretended to look aloof and laughed. “Oh, money’s not important. You should let us see the cannon first!”

“Please follow me.” The rich woman nodded. 

We followed her to the garage behind the hospital, where the ambulances were parked. After the surgery was done, she had asked the bodyguards to move the cannon there.

Anyway, this hospital belonged to her family now. 

We walked up to the garage, and the woman asked her guard to open the door. The gate slowly rolled up, which revealed the empty space inside.

The rich woman was surprised and asked her bodyguards, “Did anybody come here?” 

The guards shook their heads and said that they had kept the key the entire time and that they hadn’t opened the garage since last night. 

I carefully walked into the garage. Suddenly, I spotted a dark red liquid substance on the wall. I dipped my index finger into it and brought my finger to my nose. That liquid had the stench of rotten food. 

“It’s ghost blood,” I said.

“What…” Li Mazi suddenly remembered that the rich woman was still here. To maintain the image of a master, he pulled himself together and said in a serious tone, “My apprentice, check and tell me where this ghost blood came from.” 

I observed the ghost blood on my finger. Since it was full of Yin energy and a living person with ample Yang energy like me had poked it, it was like a water droplet under the sunlight. It evaporated shortly after.

“As the name suggests, ghost blood comes from a ghost. Although the cannon has extreme Yang energy, it also has a strong murderous aura! A hospital is always a place that gathers Yin energy. Naturally, there will be many ghosts. The cannon has awakened them,” I explained. “Just imagine a dark room where many people are sleeping. All of a sudden, someone shines a flashlight into the room. Of course, the people in the room won’t be happy. They would look for a way to turn off the flashlight. The two parties fought one another. In the end, the big cannon killed all the ghosts. Furthermore, since its murderous desire was aroused, it wasn’t satisfied with so little. I guess it has gone out to find more…”

The rich woman was scared. “Young master, this cannon is around eight hundred kilograms. How could it run away? Plus, the garage was locked the entire time.”

This event involved the supernatural, so I asked her, “Were there any words carved on the cannon?” 

The rich woman recalled then said, “Yeah… Something like General Yaowu.”

“I see. This Red Barbarian Cannon was imported from Portugal. During the Ming dynasty, these cannons were formidable weapons because they could kill hundreds or even thousands of enemy soldiers. That’s why the generals and soldiers in the Ming dynasty worshipped the cannons as deities! When something is worshipped like a deity for a long time, it will slowly develop intellect. After a long time, it is no longer just a cannon, but an item with a spirit. You can imagine it as a half-monster.”

The rich woman was astonished and confirmed it with Li Mazi. “Grandmaster, is your apprentice telling the truth?” 

“Yeah. I reached the same conclusion.” Li Mazi nodded. 

Suddenly, we heard a shriek from the hospital. Li Mazi and I exchanged looks and prepared to go there and check. However, the rich woman wanted to come with us. 

If she came with us, dozens of guards would also follow us. This large group made us anxious as we had to keep up our act. 

I mumbled to Li Mazi and asked him to find a way to get rid of her. 

Li Mazi suddenly screamed, “Not good!” 

“What’s wrong?” asked the rich woman. 

“There’s something wrong with your husband. You should go back and watch him.” 

The rich woman hurried to return to her husband’s room.

Before she left, she asked if we wanted to keep several bodyguards to help us. 

Li Mazi skillfully rejected.

After the rich woman left, Li Mazi’s vulgar smile reappeared. He patted my shoulder. “Little Brother Zhang, shouldn’t you be thanking me? Without my silver tongue, how could we secure this ten-million-renminbi-deal?”

“Your silver tongue? During the time you were bragging to that woman, I was sweating in fright. I was scared that you would mess up and get discovered.” I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh. 

“How could that happen? I, Li Mazi, have been in this business for years. I’ve seen a lot of people. I have keen eyes that can see when there’s food on the plate, my friend!”

When we arrived at the scene, we saw many people gathered outside a room on the third floor. I squeezed into the crowd and took a glance. Immediately, a chill ran down my spine. 

The room was a mess. A man was lying in a blood puddle, and both of his arms and legs were chopped off. His head was gone, too. 

There was a long streak of blood on the ground. It was certain that the victim had crawled for a while after he was attacked. What a tragic death!

I asked a patient next to me, “What happened?” 

“That man’s mother was treated in this hospital. Her treatment failed, and she died. To pay for her treatment, he had used up all of his savings and even sold his house. But the hospital didn’t agree to take any responsibility. Every day, he and his friends came to the hospital to protest while carrying bloody banners. Every time, they stopped the doctor that had operated on his mother and asked him for compensation.”

The man continued, “Today, when he heard that the doctor was in the examining room helping his patients, he came in. The two talked for a while, and perhaps because he was too stirred up, the man slapped the doctor. The doctor was enraged and left to get a security guard, while the man just sat there and waited for the doctor to return. But when the doctor left the room, we heard someone screech. The nurse went in to check and saw the corpse. Hospitals are too bold these days, don’t you think? They can’t cure people and even killed the patient’s family that came to ask for justice. Is this hospital or a slaughterhouse?” The patient sneered after explaining the situation to me.

A nurse standing near us couldn’t bear it. She intervened, “You know nothing! Stop talking nonsense if you don’t know the whole story. That man wasn’t the family member of a patient. He was a medical scammer!”