“If this medicine really reconnects my severed tendons, Chairman Lin, my thirty-eight brothers and I will be your unbreakable shield!”
Inside the eighth-floor VIP orthopedic treatment suite of Jiangcheng First Hospital, thirty-four-year-old Tie Niu gripped the titanium handrails of a newly installed German bio-pulse rehabilitation tank.
His scarred knuckles were white with tension. He had removed his rusted steel leg brace for the first time in months, exposing his swollen, purple-scarred right knee. Twisted shrapnel from the burning school bus had severed his patellar tendons there five years ago.
Standing beside the glass cylinder in a clean white lab coat was forty-year-old Orthopedic Attending Surgeon Dr. Zhou (Goodness: 86/100). He had spent the last twenty minutes calibrating the hospital’s two brand-new imported bio-pulse rehabilitation pods.
“Mr. Lin,” Dr. Zhou said honestly, pushing up his wire-rimmed glasses as he looked at Tie Niu’s X-ray film on the wall lightbox. “The five million yuan you just paid to purchase these two German ultrasonic bio-pulse tanks for our orthopedic ward will help Tie Niu’s blood circulation immensely.”
“However, I can’t lie to you—his patellar tendon and periosteum have been calcified for five years. Even with five million yuan of equipment, he’ll still need a cane to walk.”
“I appreciate an honest doctor who doesn’t peddle false hope, Dr. Zhou,” Lin Mo said calmly. He tapped his black-gold [Personal 100x Vault Card] against the procurement terminal to settle the five-million-yuan invoice for the two rehabilitation tanks. “Your job is to run the ultrasonic frequency at sixty hertz. The medicine in my hand will handle the calcification.”
Beep!
As the ¥5,000,000.00 equipment purchase for Tie Niu (Goodness: 93/100) cleared on Dr. Zhou’s terminal, the first golden chime of the afternoon rang inside Lin Mo’s mind:
[Ding! Benevolent Medical Equipment Expenditure Verified!]
[Host spent ¥5,000,000.00 RMB purchasing top-tier German Bio-Pulse Rehabilitation Tanks for Crippled Special-Forces Hero Tie Niu (93/100) and Honest Surgeon Dr. Zhou's (86/100) orthopedic ward!]
[Triggering 100x Pure-Heart Cashback Multiplier!]
[+¥500,000,000.00 RMB (Five Hundred Million Yuan, Tax-Cleared Sovereign Funds) deposited into Host's Personal Vault!]
[+500,000 Benevolence Merit Points (BMP) awarded!]
[Current Personal Liquid Vault Balance: ¥2,752,680,000.50 RMB!]
Before Dr. Zhou could ask what kind of topical medicine could dissolve five-year bone calcification, the connecting door from the neighboring VIP cardiac recovery suite creaked open.
Six-year-old Little Guo’er (Goodness: 100/100)—wearing a soft pink hospital gown with rosy cheeks after her morning stent surgery—tiptoed inside holding Grandma Chen’s (Goodness: 98/100) hand.
“Big Brother Lin!” Little Guo’er called out happily, trotting over to the bio-pulse tank and holding up a small piece of lotus-honey candy wrapped in red cellophane toward Tie Niu. “Uncle Soldier, Grandma said you got hurt saving little kids on a bus! Don’t be scared of the doctor’s machine—if you eat this sweet candy first, the medicine won’t taste bitter at all!”
Tie Niu, a six-foot-three special-forces iron giant who hadn’t flinched when shrapnel tore open his knee, felt his nose sting.
His rough, scarred face softened into a gentle smile as he took the tiny piece of candy with two thick fingers.
“Thank you, Little Princess Guo’er,” Tie Niu rumbled warmly. “With your candy, Uncle Bull won’t even blink.”
“Here, young man, drink a cup of warm red-date tea while you soak,” Grandma Chen said, setting a thermos on the side table with maternal bustle. “Nurse Lin and Nurse Zhou told me how you protected the old fruit farmer at the mall this morning. Good men who protect the weak always get blessed by heaven!”
“Strictly speaking, Grandma Chen, heaven uses my bank card as its clearinghouse,” Lin Mo said deadpan.
Once Grandma Chen and Little Guo’er stepped back to the observation couch, Lin Mo reached into his pocket. He drew out a thumb-sized jade vial he had just redeemed from the System Mall for 10,000 Benevolence Merit Points: `[Rank-1 Bone-Mending Marrow Liniment]`.
When he popped the red wax stopper, a rich, refreshing aroma of wild snow-lotus, century-old tiger bone, and warm mountain spring water filled the sterile hospital room.
Merely inhaling a wisp of the scent made Dr. Zhou’s chronic neck stiffness from twelve-hour surgeries vanish on the spot!
“What... what kind of traditional herbal liniment is that?!” Dr. Zhou asked, sniffing the air in amazement. “There isn’t a single synthetic chemical preservative in it, yet the medicinal volatility is ten times stronger than imperial court musk!”
“An ancestral secret recipe,” Lin Mo said casually, pouring the emerald-gold liquid straight into the bio-pulse tank’s circulation valve around Tie Niu’s submerged right leg. “Brace yourself, Old Bull. Reconnecting martial meridians itches a bit.”
“I’m ready, Chairman!” Tie Niu bit down on a rolled towel.
Dr. Zhou pressed the activation switch.
HUMMMMMM!
As the sixty-hertz ultrasonic waves resonated with the [Rank-1 Bone-Mending Marrow Liniment], the clear warm water inside the glass cylinder turned into a swirling vortex of emerald-gold mist!
Thousands of tiny golden medicinal threads burrowed straight through the scarred pores of Tie Niu’s right knee, drilling into the dead, calcified cartilage and severed patellar tendons like microscopic hot needles!
“Hmph!” Tie Niu let out a muffled groan through his teeth as sweat poured down his temples.
Inside his knee joint, five years of necrotic blood-stasis and bone spurs melted under the overwhelming medicinal energy. At the same time, fresh white bone marrow and tough, elastic tendon fibers wove themselves back together at a speed visible on the ultrasound monitor!
Dr. Zhou glanced at the real-time ultrasonic bone-density screen—and his metal clipboard slipped right out of his fingers, clattering loudly onto the floor!
“Look at the monitor!” Dr. Zhou shouted, grabbing the edge of the console with both hands as his voice shook with scientific shock. “The calcified bone spurs are dissolving into the fluid! The severed patellar tendon gap just shrank from twelve millimeters to four millimeters—two millimeters—it reconnected! How can human tendon fibers regenerate in forty minutes?!”
Inside the glass tank, the emerald-gold water rapidly turned pitch-black as foul, tar-like blood-stasis purged out of Tie Niu’s knee pores and drained through the filtration pipe.
Lin Mo stepped beside the tank and pressed two fingers against the acupoint above Tie Niu’s knee. He guided a steady stream of his Rank 1 Mid Martial Golden Benevolence Qi into the veteran’s leg to flush the last blockage out of his lower-limb meridians.
POP!
A deep, resonant crack—like a rusted iron lock snapping open—echoed from inside Tie Niu’s right knee!
The pitch-black sludge vanished down the drain, replaced by clean sterilization mist. On the ultrasound monitor, Tie Niu’s right knee joint glowed with denser, smoother bone structure than a twenty-year-old athlete’s!
“Time’s up,” Lin Mo said, stepping back and tossing Tie Niu a dry hospital towel. “Step out and test the floor, Commander Tie.”
Tie Niu unlatched the glass cylinder door.
For five years, knife-like pain had greeted him every single morning when he swung his right leg out of bed, forcing him to grab his steel brace and crutch before his foot touched the ground.
Now, Tie Niu swung his bare right leg out of the tank.
His toes touched the cold terrazzo tile.
There was no stabbing pain. There was no buckling weakness.
Instead, a roaring furnace of long-dormant Peak Rank-1 External-Body Martial Qi surged from his dantian straight down through his newly unblocked right leg to the sole of his foot!
Tie Niu let go of the handrail. He stood up to his full six-foot-three height without crutches, without a brace, and without a single limp!
“My leg...” Tie Niu whispered, staring down at his scarred knee as he bent it smoothly into a deep squat and sprang back up without a sound.
Filled with five years of reborn strength, the iron veteran inhaled deeply, raised his right foot, and stomped down against the reinforced hospital floor with half of his Peak Rank-1 External Martial power!
BOOM—CRACK!
The entire eighth-floor orthopedic suite shuddered as if struck by a pile driver! Beneath Tie Niu’s bare heel, two thick reinforced terrazzo floor tiles cracked into a neat spiderweb pattern!
Dr. Zhou nearly fell backward into his swivel chair, staring from the cracked floor tile to Tie Niu’s bare foot as if he were looking at a prehistoric tyrannosaur.
“He... he stomped a spiderweb crack into reinforced hospital concrete with the leg that was crippled an hour ago?!” Dr. Zhou stammered, his worldview completely shattered. “Mr. Lin, if your medicine were published in the Lancet, it would win three Nobel Prizes!”
“Let’s keep the Nobel committee out of it for now,” Lin Mo said dryly. “I don’t feel like writing a research paper.”
Tie Niu turned toward Lin Mo. Tears rolled down the big soldier’s cheeks as he dropped straight to both knees on the cracked tile and bowed his forehead to the floor.
“Chairman Lin! You didn’t just heal my knee—you broke the five-year bottleneck in my External-Body Martial cultivation!” Tie Niu’s voice boomed with unyielding devotion. “Give me your orders! Even if you tell me to charge through a mountain of blades today, Tie Niu won’t frown once!”
“Get up and put your shoes on,” Lin Mo said, hauling the big man up. “Did your thirty-eight brothers arrive downstairs?”
“Yes, Chairman! All thirty-eight of them just assembled in the west hospital courtyard!” Tie Niu said eagerly, pulling out his phone.
Ten minutes later, Lin Mo and a briskly striding Tie Niu walked out into the quiet west courtyard behind the VIP building.
Standing in two arrow-straight military ranks in the drizzle were thirty-eight weathered men between thirty and thirty-eight years old.
Every single one of them wore faded, neatly washed camouflage or security jackets. Some leaned on aluminum canes, some had stiff shoulder joints from border shrapnel, and others had calloused hands from working twelve-hour night shifts at construction gates and parking lots.
Yet when Lin Mo swept his [Pure-Heart Eye] across the formation, a breathtaking wall of emerald-and-gold light lit up the courtyard!
[Target: Lei Gang (Former Special-Forces Deputy Squad Leader, Age 35) | Goodness Score: 92/100!]
[Target: Chen Hu (Former Combat Medic & Heavy Breacher, Age 33) | Goodness Score: 90/100!]
[36 Additional Retired Special-Forces Veterans | Goodness Scores: 85/100 to 94/100 — 100% Qualified Pure-Heart Heroes!]
When the thirty-eight veterans saw Tie Niu—who had hobbled on a rusted steel brace for five years—marching across the courtyard with tiger-like strides and zero limp, a low murmur of shock rippled through the ranks!
“Old Bull?! Your right leg—where is your steel brace?!” Deputy Squad Leader Lei Gang (Goodness: 92/100) stepped forward, his eyes wide with shock.
Tie Niu grinned and stamped his right boot onto the wet flagstones with a thunderous thud.
“Chairman Lin healed my knee in one hour and cleared all my debts!” Tie Niu roared, turning to salute Lin Mo. “Brothers! This is Chairman Lin Mo of Taichu Benevolence Group! Today he is founding the Taichu Righteous Iron Guard, and he asked me to bring every single honest brother who bled for the people and got left behind!”
Lin Mo stepped in front of the thirty-eight veterans.
“I don’t give long speeches,” Lin Mo said clearly, his voice carrying effortlessly to every ear. “Every man standing in this courtyard has an eighty-five-plus moral integrity score and a combat record of protecting innocent people. Starting this minute, all thirty-eight of you are officially inducted into the Taichu Righteous Iron Guard under Commander Tie Niu.”
He held up his phone as he opened the Taichu Group corporate treasury account.
“I am wiring an immediate fifty-million-yuan Medical Recovery & Signing Fund right now,” Lin Mo announced. “One million yuan per man goes directly into your family accounts today as your signing bonus and debt-clearance grant. The remaining twelve million yuan is deposited into this hospital’s VIP orthopedic wing so every single one of your old combat injuries is completely healed with my bone-mending medicine this week!”
For two seconds, the thirty-eight battle-hardened soldiers stood frozen in the rain.
One million yuan cash per man, plus full medical restoration of their crippled limbs!
Lin Mo pressed confirm on the ¥50,000,000.00 wire transfer.
Ding!
All thirty-eight veterans’ phones buzzed simultaneously in their pockets with the one-million-yuan sovereign salary arrival SMS!
At that exact instant, the golden ledger in Lin Mo’s mind erupted like a miniature supernova:
[Ding! Mass Heroic Legion Founding Verified!]
[Host spent ¥50,000,000.00 RMB recruiting, clearing family debts, and funding full medical restoration for 38 Qualified Pure-Heart Special-Forces Veterans (Goodness: 85–94/100) to establish the Taichu Righteous Iron Guard!]
[Supreme Soldier Loyalty & Life-Changing Relief Generated: 100% Perfect Qualification!]
[Triggering 100x Pure-Heart Cashback Multiplier!]
[+¥5,000,000,000.00 RMB (Five Billion Yuan, Tax-Cleared Sovereign Funds) deposited into Host's Personal Vault!]
[+5,000,000 Benevolence Merit Points (BMP) awarded!]
[Total Afternoon Spend: ¥55,000,000.00 -> Total 100x Refund: +¥5,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Current Personal Liquid Vault Balance: ¥7,702,680,000.50 RMB (Seven Billion Seven Hundred and Two Million Six Hundred and Eighty Thousand Yuan)!]
[Good People Network Updated: 65 Verified Beneficiaries & Allies!]
“Attention! Salute Chairman Lin!” Deputy Squad Leader Lei Gang roared with reddened eyes.
THUD!
Thirty-nine pairs of combat boots—Tie Niu and his thirty-eight brothers—slammed together in unison, their booming salute shaking the rainwater off the courtyard pine trees:
“THE TAICHU RIGHTEOUS IRON GUARD SWEARS UNDYING LOYALTY TO CHAIRMAN LIN!”
Right as the roar echoed across the hospital grounds, a crimson emergency notification flashed across Lin Mo’s System HUD at the exact same second his phone rang with a video call from CEO Su Wan:
[Ding! Emergency Ally Distress Alert at Grand Golden-Plume Luxury Plaza!]
“Chairman Lin!” Su Wan’s urgent voice came through the phone over the sound of shouting guards and Liu Yan’s smug laughter in the background. “Mall Vice-President Zhao and Zhao Kai just stormed into the Vacheron & Patek Boutique with twenty private thugs! They locked the showroom doors, declared your twelve-million-yuan watches ‘confiscated stolen goods,’ and are trying to force me to sign over the store lease!”
Lin Mo’s eyes gleamed cold and bright as he looked at his ¥7,702,680,000.50 vault balance and the thirty-nine special-forces veterans standing behind him.
“Stay behind the counter and get the Hong Kong parent company’s wire account ready, CEO Su,” Lin Mo said calmly. He waved Tie Niu and the thirty-eight veterans toward the black executive vans waiting at the hospital gate. “Vice-President Zhao wants to revoke our store lease? In twenty minutes, we’re buying the entire mall and throwing him into the street.”