The automatic double doors of Trauma Operating Suite One parted with a hiss of pressurized air.
Paramedics pushed the heavy stainless steel gurney into the sterile theater at a full sprint. On the rolling bed, twenty-four-year-old firefighter Chen Lie lay motionless. His protective flame-retardant turnout coat was charred to black cinders. Thick, oily chemical smoke residue coated his cracked lips, and harsh, whistling gasps rattled painfully in his chest.
Beside the gurney ran Fire Captain Zhao Gang. His face was caked with black soot and wet with tears.
“His lungs and spine were scorched saving twelve children from the North District chemical warehouse explosion,” Captain Zhao pleaded, his voice breaking with desperation. “The warehouse boss locked the emergency gates to protect his uninsured inventory and fled straight to the airport! Chen Lie ran back into that blazing inferno three separate times. On his final trip, he carried two toddlers under his arms while a burning concrete ceiling collapsed directly onto his back!”
Captain Zhao wiped his soot-stained eyes with his heavy sleeve. “When we reached the First Hospital, Deputy Director Sun demanded a five-hundred-thousand-yuan cash deposit before turning on the oxygen tanks! We had to drive across town with Chen Lie’s heart stopping twice in the ambulance!”
Dr. Gu Qinghe stepped up to the gurney, already clad in sterile green surgical scrubs. His fingers pressed firmly against Chen Lie’s carotid artery.
“Severe toxic chlorine gas inhalation,” Dr. Gu said rapidly. “Third and fourth-degree thermal burns covering forty percent of his torso. The thoracic vertebrae are fractured and compressed from the falling concrete beam. His cardiac rhythm is destabilizing rapidly.”
The surrounding surgical monitors began shrieking a frantic rhythm: ninety beats per minute, then sixty, then forty-five.
“Ventilator pressure dropping!” Nurse Wang called out, her hands flying across the anesthetic console. “His bronchial tubes are swelling shut from chemical edema! We are losing arterial pressure!”
Lin Mo walked into the operating theater. He looked down at the unconscious young firefighter. His Pure-Heart Eye revealed the blinding golden pillar of righteousness rising from Chen Lie’s chest:
[TARGET: CHEN LIE (MUNICIPAL FIRE SAFETY BRIGADE)]
[MORAL INTEGRITY: 97/100 (SUPREME RIGHTEOUS HERO)]
[ACTIONS: SAVED 12 ORPHANED CHILDREN FROM PHOSGENE INFERNO]
[CURRENT LIFE THREAT: 99% FATALITY WITHOUT CELLULAR REGENERATION]
Lin Mo felt a deep, fierce resolve.
“Captain Zhao,” Lin Mo said, placing a firm hand on the firefighter captain’s trembling shoulder. “At Taichu Sanctuary Hospital, heroes do not pay for oxygen. Every cent of treatment is covered under our Taichu Benevolence Foundation.”
Lin Mo accessed the System Mall in his consciousness.
[DING! SYSTEM MALL QUERY: TIER-1 CELLULAR DETOXIFICATION & MERIDIAN RESTORATION!]
[SELECT ITEM: CENTURY SNOW-LOTUS CELLULAR REGENERATION ESSENCE!]
[COST: 100,000 BENEVOLENCE MERIT POINTS + ¥6,000,000.00 RMB CLINICAL ENDOWMENT!]
Lin Mo authorized the purchase without a second of hesitation.
[TRANSACTION APPROVED!]
[DEDICATED HEROIC RESCUE EXPENDITURE: ¥6,000,000.00 RMB!]
In Lin Mo’s right hand, a sealed crystal vial containing a glowing, translucent jade-green liquid materialized inside a sterile surgical tray. Simultaneously, two automated hyperbaric molecular regeneration pods on the side wall lit up with pulsing white light.
“Dr. Gu,” Lin Mo said, handing the crystal vial to the chief surgeon. “Administer this Century Snow-Lotus Essence through his central IV line. I will assist you in stabilizing his meridians with internal qi while you set the Nine-Turn Gold Needles.”
Dr. Gu took the crystal vial. The moment his fingers touched the glass, his eyes widened at the pure herbal aroma wafting through the seal. “Such concentrated spiritual vitality... this is legendary grade medicine! The cellular repair capabilities must be off the charts!”
“Let’s bring him back,” Lin Mo said.
Dr. Gu drew a silver syringe, drew the glowing green essence, and injected it directly into Chen Lie’s jugular venous line.
At the same instant, Dr. Gu opened his ancestral rosewood case. His fingers moved like lightning. With supreme precision honed through decades of clinical mastery, he drove nine slender gold needles into Chen Lie’s major acupuncture points: Tanzhong, Guanyuan, Feishu, and Baihui.
“Qi circulation!” Dr. Gu called out.
Lin Mo stepped to the head of the operating table. He placed both palms against Chen Lie’s shoulders.
Circulating his Rank 1 High Martial qi, Lin Mo guided a warm stream of pure golden energy into Chen Lie’s scorched meridians. The golden qi acted like a protective armor, enveloping the fragile lungs and driving out the toxic black chemical residue.
Inside Chen Lie’s body, a miracle unfolded.
The Century Snow-Lotus Essence dissolved into his bloodstream like liquid starlight. Burned cellular tissue began shedding in gray flakes, replaced by fresh pink skin. The crushed thoracic vertebrae aligned with soft, rhythmic clicks under the magnetic guidance of the hyperbaric pod.
For six continuous hours, the surgical team worked without pause.
Dr. Gu’s forehead dripped with sweat, but his hands remained perfectly steady. Nurse Wang and four trauma specialists cleared secretions, monitored arterial blood gases, and dressed the healing wounds with sterile gauze.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, the shrill alarms on the cardiac monitors silenced.
A deep, regular, eighty-beat-per-minute pulse beeped across the display. The arterial oxygen saturation climbed steadily: eighty percent, ninety percent, ninety-nine percent.
Chen Lie’s scorched eyelids fluttered. He drew a deep, clear, painless breath of fresh air.
His eyes opened slowly, focusing on the bright overhead surgical lamps. “The children... are the children safe?”
Captain Zhao broke down in tears, dropping to his knees beside the bed. “They are safe, Lie! All twelve are alive! You brought them all out!”
Chen Lie let out a ragged sigh of relief. He looked up at Dr. Gu and Lin Mo, his gaze clear and conscious. “Where... where am I? Did Captain Zhao take a loan for this?”
“No loans, Firefighter Chen,” Lin Mo said with a gentle, deadpan smile. “You are in Taichu Sanctuary Hospital. Your medical bill has been settled in full. Strictly speaking, saving twelve children gives you unlimited VIP credit in this building forever.”
Dr. Gu removed the Nine-Turn Gold Needles one by one, wiping them with alcohol. His weathered face was radiant with joy. “The cellular damage is completely reversed. In three days, you will be walking. In two weeks, you can rejoin your brigade.”
Chen Lie struggled to sit up, but Lin Mo gently pressed him back against the pillows.
“Chairman Lin... Dr. Gu...” Chen Lie’s eyes shone with fierce, unbreakable gratitude. “I am just a common firefighter from a rural county. I have no wealth to offer.”
“But as long as the Jiangcheng Municipal Fire Safety Brigade stands, Taichu Hospital will never face fire, danger, or threat alone!” he vowed. “We are your brothers for life!”
Outside the glass viewing window, thirty soot-stained firefighters stood at attention, saluting Lin Mo with tears streaming down their bruised faces.
Captain Zhao turned to Commander Tie Niu and clasped his thick forearm. “Commander Tie, if any corrupt bureaucrat or martial hall thug ever tries to blockade Taichu Hospital, just sound the siren. Three hundred municipal firefighters and twelve heavy pumper trucks will arrive to clear the lane in five minutes flat!”
“A deal,” Tie Niu rumbled with a broad grin. “Our Iron Guard and your fire brigade will make an ironclad perimeter.”
At that exact second, a magnificent celestial chime echoed in Lin Mo’s mind, far deeper and more resonant than any previous system prompt:
[DING! SUPREME HEROIC SALVATION COMPLETED!]
[TARGET: FIREFIGHTER CHEN LIE (GOODNESS: 97/100) & 34 FIRE BRIGADE BROTHERS (GOODNESS: 86–95/100)!]
[CLINICAL EXPENSE: ¥6,000,000.00 RMB!]
[100x PURE-HEART REBATE TRIGGERED: +¥600,000,000.00 RMB!]
[PERSONAL VAULT BALANCE: ¥30,843,680,000.50 RMB!]
[BENEVOLENCE MERIT POINTS: +600,000 BMP (TOTAL: 32,850,528 BMP)!]
[GOOD PEOPLE NETWORK EXPANDED: 710 -> 745 MEMBERS!]
[CRITICAL MILESTONE UNLOCKED: TAICHU SANCTUARY PASSIVE HEALING STREAM!]
[SYSTEM RULE ENHANCEMENT: FROM THIS MOMENT ONWARD, EVERY GENUINE CHARITY TREATMENT PERFORMED BY TAICHU HOSPITAL ON 80+ GOODNESS CITIZENS WILL AUTOMATICALLY TRIGGER A 100x PURE-HEART CASH REBATE INTO THE HOST'S VAULT UPON DISCHARGE!]
[ESTIMATED DAILY PASSIVE YIELD: ¥100,000,000.00 TO ¥500,000,000.00 RMB!]
Lin Mo blinked in quiet astonishment.
A passive 100x stream.
Every time Dr. Gu and the hundred and twenty-three honest doctors saved an impoverished patient, the System would automatically refund the medical costs a hundredfold into Lin Mo’s vault. Kindness had truly become an automated, compounding sovereign empire.
“A hospital that earns billions by giving away free healthcare,” Lin Mo thought to himself with dry satisfaction. “If traditional private equity managers saw my balance sheet, they would have heart attacks on the spot.”
Lin Mo stepped out of the operating suite into the quiet recovery hallway.
Dr. Gu walked beside him, holding his ancestral needle box. “Chairman Lin, in all my decades of surgical practice, I have never witnessed such cellular vitality. That snow-lotus essence is a treasure of heaven and earth. Where did you obtain it?”
“A family secret from an ancient mountain herbalist,” Lin Mo replied smoothly. “Whenever our hospital needs miraculous remedies for worthy people, the supply will never dry up.”
“Then Jiangcheng has hope,” Dr. Gu said with profound emotion. “With our new surgical theaters and honest staff, we can admit over three hundred critical charity cases each week. The poorest workers will receive the finest medical care in the country.”
“Admit every single one whose heart is clean,” Lin Mo nodded. “Our budget is essentially bottomless.”
The two men walked past the pediatric recovery wards. Through the glass partitions, Lin Mo saw several young patients playing with toy trucks, while their parents smiled with deep relief. Every ward was bathed in clean, filtered air, completely free of the oppressive commercial dread that haunted standard private hospitals.
Just as Lin Mo prepared to head down to the cafeteria for a bowl of Grandma Chen’s wonton soup, a loud, shrill commotion erupted from the ground-floor lobby.
Screams, theatrical wailing, and the aggressive clicking of news cameras echoed up the marble central staircase.
“Aiya! My chest! My poor heart is bursting into pieces!”
A woman’s piercing shriek shook the chandelier crystals in the main atrium.
Lin Mo walked to the grand mezzanine balcony and looked down.
In the center of the crowded lobby, surrounded by twenty curious reporters and waiting patients, an elderly woman in a gaudy purple velvet coat sat slumped in a rented chrome wheelchair. She writhed theatrically from side to side, clutching her chest while kicking her patent-leather shoes against the polished marble tiles.
Beside the wheelchair stood ex-girlfriend Liu Yan.
Liu Yan wore heavy designer makeup, oversized sunglasses, and a tailored white fur vest. She held a lace handkerchief in one hand and waved an iPhone on a selfie stick with the other, sobbing loudly for her livestream audience.
“Look at this, everyone!” Liu Yan screamed into her phone. “My mother has acute congestive coronary infarction! Her heart is failing!”
“Lin Mo was my boyfriend for three whole years!” she wailed into the lens. “He ate dinner at our table every weekend and swore to take care of our family forever! Now that he owns a twenty-eight-story luxury hospital, he lets his future mother-in-law die on the floor!”
Liu Yan turned toward the security guards, stamping her high-heeled boots.
“Where is Lin Mo?” Liu Yan demanded, her voice shrill as a siren. “Wheel my mother into your top-floor Presidential Recovery Suite right now! Transfer five hundred thousand yuan into her account for wild ginseng recovery soup, or I will stay in this lobby until Taichu Hospital is shut down for medical neglect!”
Her mother, Wang Cuihua, threw her head back and let out another loud, agonizing groan. “Aiya! I am dying! If Lin Mo doesn’t give me five hundred thousand cash right now, I will die on this marble floor and sue him for fifty million!”
Up on the mezzanine balcony, Tie Niu’s knuckles popped like thunderbolts.
“Chairman,” Tie Niu growled, his face dark with disgust. “Should I throw both of these swindlers into the street gutters?”
Lin Mo looked down at Liu Yan and her mother. His Pure-Heart Eye swept over the theatrical duo, and a slow, cold smirk spread across his face.
“No need, Commander Tie,” Lin Mo said, leaning casually against the balustrade. “Since Auntie Wang claims she has a terminal heart condition, it would be terribly rude of us not to offer her our most advanced diagnostic scan.”