The black Rolls-Royce convoy navigated the narrow, rutted streets of South Alley. Rain puddles splashed against the high curbs as the vehicles rolled past peeling brick walls, rusted bicycle racks, and damp laundry lines strung between wooden utility poles.
In the back seat, Lin Mo adjusted his cuffs. Through the tinted window, he watched elderly residents in patched coats carrying plastic jugs of cooking oil and bundles of scallions.
“South Alley was where the old municipal factories used to be,” Tie Niu said from the passenger seat. “When the state factories closed twenty years ago, the pension funds were gutted. Most people here live on three hundred yuan a month. Dr. Gu’s clinic is the only reason half these elders are still breathing.”
“A man who spends his life keeping his neighbors alive deserves more than damp alleys,” Lin Mo replied quietly.
Two blocks ahead, near a dark intersection lined with scrap-metal dealers, an iron sign hung beneath a sagging awning: South City Trust & Pawn.
Inside the dim, smoke-filled shop, the air reeked of cheap rolling tobacco, wet wool, and mothballs.
Behind the heavy wooden security counter, protected by rusted iron bars, sat a man in a greasy velvet vest. A thick gold tooth flashed beneath his pencil mustache as he puffed on a cheap brown cigar. This was Gold-Tooth Liu.
[TARGET: GOLD-TOOTH LIU]
[MORAL INTEGRITY: 12/100 (PREDATORY USURER, FENCE, EXTORTIONIST)]
[CURRENT STATUS: CHEATING A DESPERATE PHYSICIAN]
On the customer side of the iron bars stood Dr. Gu Qinghe.
The forty-five-year-old physician wore a washed-out gray cotton coat, its cuffs mended with coarse black thread. His hair was streaked with silver at the temples, and his face was drawn with exhaustion. Yet his posture remained straight as a mountain pine, his silver-rimmed glasses resting firmly on a high-bridged nose.
Between Dr. Gu’s calloused, steady hands sat a polished rosewood box lined with faded yellow silk. Inside the box lay nine slender needles, forged from ancient celestial gold, each carved with microscopic cloud patterns.
“Fifty thousand yuan, take it or leave it, Dr. Gu,” Gold-Tooth Liu said, blowing a cloud of gray smoke straight into the physician’s face. “A blacklisted surgeon can’t even get hired as a vet in Jiangcheng. Who else will give you cash for scrap metal?”
Dr. Gu coughed quietly, waving the smoke away, but his eyes never wavered from the box. “Manager Liu, these are the Nine-Turn Gold Needles passed down from my grandfather, a palace physician.”
“They are forged from pure celestial gold and cold-iron alloy,” Dr. Gu continued evenly. “Even the raw metal is worth half a million yuan. I only need three hundred thousand to buy three months of insulin and cardiac medication for twenty elderly patients on my street.”
“Three hundred thousand?” Gold-Tooth Liu barked out a harsh laugh. He tapped his cigar ash onto the silk lining of the box. “Who cares about your grandfather’s palace tricks?”
“In modern Jiangcheng, Zhao Pharmaceutical decides what medicine costs,” Liu sneered. “You offended Young Master Zhao, so your name is mud. If you don’t take fifty thousand right now, I’ll call the neighborhood committee and tell them you’re selling stolen heirlooms!”
Behind Dr. Gu, twenty elderly residents huddled near the door. Many of them had bandages wrapped around their arthritic knees or wore thick cataract glasses.
“Dr. Gu, don’t sell your grandfather’s needles,” an eighty-year-old grandmother whispered, leaning on a bamboo cane. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “My chest doesn’t hurt that badly. I can drink boiled ginger tea instead of insulin...”
“Nonsense, Auntie Zhang,” Dr. Gu said gently, turning his head. “Without insulin, your kidneys will fail before winter. A set of needles is just dead metal. Human lives are what matters.”
Dr. Gu turned back to the iron bars. His jaw tightened as he pushed the rosewood box forward. “Fifty thousand. Give me the cash.”
Gold-Tooth Liu grinned, his gold tooth gleaming with greedy triumph. He reached his hairy, greasy fingers toward the rosewood box. “Smart choice, doc. A dead hero is just a—”
Before Liu’s fingers could touch the wood, a slender, clean hand reached out from behind Dr. Gu’s shoulder.
The hand snapped the rosewood lid shut with a crisp click and swept the box off the counter in a single fluid motion.
Gold-Tooth Liu’s fingers grabbed empty air.
“Hey! Who told you to touch my merchandise?” Gold-Tooth Liu yelled, slamming his open palm against the security bars.
Lin Mo stepped forward, holding the rosewood box tucked securely beneath his arm. “Your merchandise? I didn’t see any signed pawn receipt on this counter.”
Dr. Gu turned in surprise, adjusting his silver-rimmed glasses. “Young man, who are you? Please do not interfere. These people have no medicine left.”
Lin Mo looked at the weary doctor. His Pure-Heart Eye activated instantly, bathing Dr. Gu in a brilliant, warm jade-white radiance.
[TARGET: DR. GU QINGHE]
[MORAL INTEGRITY: 96/100 (SUPREME HEALER, UNYIELDING INTEGRITY, TCM MERIDIAN MASTER)]
[CURRENT DEBTS: ¥1,850,000.00 RMB (CLINIC RENT & EMERGENCY MEDICAL ADVANCES)]
[BENEVOLENCE VALUE: MAXIMUM TIER]
Lin Mo felt a deep, instinctive respect. A master of cardiothoracic surgery and meridian theory, reduced to pawning his ancestral legacy to feed penniless strangers.
“Dr. Gu,” Lin Mo said in a deadpan, calm tone. “You are an expert in heart surgery, but your financial arithmetic is terrible. Trading ancestral celestial gold needles for fifty thousand yuan of paper money is a loss of ninety-nine percent. If my accountant saw this trade, she would weep.”
“You little punk!” Gold-Tooth Liu snarled through the bars. He picked up a heavy iron wrench from under the desk. “You dare ruin my business in South Alley? Boys, get out here!”
A side door kicked open, and three burly thugs with wooden clubs burst into the shop.
Tie Niu entered right behind Lin Mo. The doorway seemed to shrink around his massive frame.
Without breaking stride, Tie Niu reached out with his left hand, grabbed the first thug by the collar, and threw him backward through the side door like a bag of laundry. The second thug swung a wooden club at Tie Niu’s ribs.
Tie Niu didn’t even flinch; the hardwood club snapped cleanly in half against his conditioned muscle. With a backhand slap, Tie Niu sent the second thug spinning into a pile of rusted bicycle rims.
The third thug dropped his club and raised both hands, pressing his back against the wall.
Gold-Tooth Liu froze behind the bars, his cigar dropping onto his lap. “You... who are you people?”
Lin Mo ignored the thugs completely. He placed the rosewood box back into Dr. Gu’s trembling hands. “Keep your family needles, Dr. Gu. An honest doctor should hold gold needles, not pawn receipts.”
Dr. Gu stared at the box in his hands, then looked up at Lin Mo with wide, disbelieving eyes. “Young friend, I appreciate your courage, but twenty elderly neighbors outside need immediate medication. If I don’t give this shopkeeper money, the clinic’s wholesale suppliers will cut us off by noon.”
“Then let us settle the bill properly,” Lin Mo said.
Lin Mo pulled out his matte emerald-green Benevolence Charity Card and set it on the pawnshop counter. He dialed CEO Su Wan on speakerphone.
“Su Wan,” Lin Mo said.
“Present, Chairman Lin,” Su Wan’s clear voice came through the speaker.
“Wire two million yuan to the South Alley Medical Supplies Depot to clear all historical arrears for Dr. Gu’s clinic,” Lin Mo instructed calmly. “Then allocate eight million yuan into a dedicated escrow trust for Dr. Gu Qinghe. Purchase two full years of top-grade insulin, cardiac stabilizers, and surgical supplies for all elderly residents in South Alley.”
Gold-Tooth Liu’s jaw dropped open. “Ten... ten million yuan?!”
Dr. Gu gasped, stumbling back half a step. “Ten million? Young man, this... this is impossible! I have never met you! I cannot accept charity from a stranger!”
“This is not charity, Dr. Gu,” Lin Mo replied with a faint, pragmatic smile. “This is a venture capital investment in human longevity. Strictly speaking, you are saving me the trouble of attending twenty funerals on this street. Ten million yuan is a bargain.”
Lin Mo tapped his green card against the counter’s digital payment scanner to authorize the immediate wire transfer.
A grand, resonant chime echoed deep within his consciousness:
[DING! SUPREME BENEVOLENCE HEALTHCARE EXPENDITURE DETECTED!]
[TARGET: DR. GU QINGHE (GOODNESS: 96/100) & 20 SOUTH ALLEY ELDERS (GOODNESS: 83–92/100)!]
[SPENT: ¥10,000,000.00 RMB!]
[100x PURE-HEART REBATE TRIGGERED: +¥1,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[PERSONAL VAULT BALANCE: ¥20,349,680,000.50 RMB!]
[BENEVOLENCE MERIT POINTS: +1,000,000 BMP (TOTAL: 22,350,528 BMP)!]
[GOOD PEOPLE NETWORK EXPANDED: 566 -> 587 MEMBERS!]
[HOST REALM BREAKTHROUGH: RANK 1 MID-PEAK MARTIAL -> RANK 1 HIGH MARTIAL!]
A thunderous rush of golden spiritual qi erupted in Lin Mo’s chest.
His meridians expanded like wide rivers of molten bronze. The qi flooded his bone marrow, hardening his skeletal structure until it hummed with the resonance of ancient jade. His physical strength surged past two thousand pounds of explosive force. The air around him shimmered with faint, invisible ripples of martial power.
Gold-Tooth Liu choked on his own saliva. He stared at the transaction terminal as ten million yuan cleared through the municipal commercial banking network. His knees turned to jelly.
“Ten million... pure cash...” Liu stammered, his eyes bulging. “I... I tried to cheat a ten-billion-yuan tycoon over fifty thousand...”
The twenty elderly residents gathered at the pawnshop entrance burst into tears. Auntie Zhang dropped her bamboo cane and grasped Lin Mo’s sleeve with both hands. “Benefactor! You are a living bodhisattva sent from heaven!”
“Auntie Zhang, please stand up,” Lin Mo said gently, steadying her. “The medical depot will deliver your medicine directly to Dr. Gu’s clinic within the hour. You don’t have to worry about cold winters anymore.”
Dr. Gu Qinghe stood motionless for several seconds. His chest heaved with deep emotion. Then, slowly, with solemn dignity, he tucked the rosewood needle box into his inner coat, stepped back, and bowed from the waist at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
“Gu Qinghe has practiced medicine for twenty-four years,” the doctor said, his voice thick with unshed tears. “I have seen greedy directors steal research, and I have seen corrupt officials sell poison. But today, I have seen true righteousness. Chairman Lin, my life and these nine needles are at your disposal.”
“Save your bows for your operating room, Dr. Gu,” Lin Mo said, lifting the physician upright with a respectful grip. “A master surgeon’s hands should be steady, not trembling from debt.”
Before Dr. Gu could speak another word, a sharp, wailing siren tore through the quiet street.
Two white government inspection sedans and a black Mercedes screeched to a halt outside the pawnshop entrance. Heavy vehicle doors slammed shut.
Half a dozen men wearing navy-blue uniforms and yellow armbands marched onto the sidewalk, carrying heavy iron chains and yellow paper sealing tape.
At the front of the group strode Health-Inspector Qian. His narrow eyes scanned the street with predatory arrogance. Beside him, two of Zhao Kai’s personal bodyguards in dark suits followed closely, smirking as they held heavy steel padlocks.
“Where is Gu Qinghe?” Inspector Qian’s harsh voice echoed across the alley. “By order of the Jiangcheng Municipal Health Bureau and the Provincial Medical Association, the unlicensed quack clinic at Number 44 South Alley is declared an illegal hazard! Clear the street! We are sealing the premises permanently!”
Inspector Qian raised a thick yellow paper seal, stamped with the official red crest of Zhao Pharmaceutical’s regulatory committee.
The elderly neighbors cried out in panic, clutching each other in fear.
Dr. Gu’s face hardened, his fists clenching inside his coat sleeves. “Qian! You took three hundred thousand from Zhao Dehai to fabricate those charges! My clinic has operated with community approval for five years!”
“Community approval means garbage without our bureau’s stamp!” Inspector Qian sneered, waving a pair of heavy iron chains. “Kneel down, sign this confession of malpractice, and beg Chairman Zhao for mercy. Otherwise, every elder who accepted your illegal medicine will be detained for questioning!”
Tie Niu took a half-step forward, his martial qi humming with lethal coldness.
Lin Mo raised a hand, stopping Tie Niu in his tracks. A thin, cold smile touched Lin Mo’s lips.
“Sealing an alley clinic?” Lin Mo said in an amused, deadpan whisper. “Inspector Qian seems very proud of his paper stickers. Let’s see how many stickers he has in his pocket.”