Suddenly, a bright new world emerged beyond the shadows and blossoms.

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Yang Tang hurriedly scooped up the bespectacled man in a princess carry. “Lead the way,” he said.

Ye Ni, surprised by Yang Tang’s strength, nodded and jogged toward where her car was parked.

Wang Dong and Longlong, seeing this, had no choice but to help gather the glasses man’s spectacles and the sports bags the three had brought, following after them.

It was unclear what Ye Ni and her companions’ backgrounds were, but oddly, they had driven two cars to a basketball game—one an SUV, the other a four-seater Wentisa sports car.

Wentisa was a renowned brand unique to this world, and its sports cars were on par with the Maseratis of Yang Tang’s previous life.

“Put him in the back seat!” Ye Ni instructed, already seated in the SUV’s driver’s seat.

As soon as Yang Tang climbed into the spacious back seat and had barely settled, Ye Ni floored it and shot out of the parking spot.

Longlong, following behind, couldn’t help but grumble, “Damn, who knows what that guy slipped Miss Ye, she didn’t even warm up the car before taking off!”

Wang Dong shrugged. “Relax, Ni Ni knows what she’s doing. A couple of times without warming up the engine won’t hurt.” Though he said this, his eyes betrayed jealousy.

Inside the car, Ye Ni asked, “Which hospital?”

“Which else? The nearest People’s Hospital!” Yang Tang replied, checking the bespectacled man’s pulse. “If he weren’t on the verge of dying, the college clinic would’ve sufficed.”

“Which direction is the People’s Hospital? I don’t know the way,” Ye Ni admitted.

Yang Tang was speechless.

“Well? Say something.”

“Head toward the college main gate first. I’ll check if this guy has a phone on him.”

“Okay.”

Unfortunately, aside from a few hundred-yuan bills and some coins, the bespectacled man had no phone. Understandable—who carries their phone when playing basketball?

“Ye Ni, do you have a phone?” Yang Tang asked while scanning the road. “Out the gate, turn right.”

“I don’t have mine with me,” Ye Ni answered. Without even slowing down, she smashed through the horizontal barrier at the college gate.

“Whoa, are you auditioning for a Bond movie?”

“What’s a Bond movie?” Ye Ni asked, puzzled. “Where to next?”

Yang Tang slapped his forehead. “At the traffic lights ahead, turn left, get on that main road, and drive straight to the end...”

“Got it!”

At this hour, the main road was packed with traffic—think of a major city during off-peak hours in 2015—yet Ye Ni maneuvered the large SUV through the cars like a fish in water, reaching the other end in just over a minute.

“Turn left; not far ahead you’ll see the hospital entrance,” Yang Tang directed, then asked a little sheepishly, “Ye Ni, do you, um, have any money on you?”

Ye Ni laughed softly. “I knew you’d ask. Don’t worry. I may not have anything on me, but I’ve memorized my credit card number—I can overdraft up to a hundred thousand.”

“That’s great, that’s great...”

“You don’t have a credit card?” Ye Ni inquired.

“Me?” Yang Tang gave a bitter smile. “I’m still in high school, don’t even have a job—how would I have any credit?”

“What?!” Ye Ni shot him a sharp look.

Yang Tang bristled, “Hey, hey, why are you staring at me? Eyes on the road!”

Ye Ni turned her attention back and indeed saw the hospital entrance ahead, immediately steering the car straight for it. Only at the last moment did she slam on the brakes. Luckily, Yang Tang still had the bespectacled man cradled in his arms—otherwise, just that jolt would have sent the poor guy sprawling.

In a flurry, Ye Ni jumped out and rushed into the hospital to get a doctor.

Clap, clap!

Yang Tang carried the bloodied bespectacled man out of the car, patting his cheeks. “Hey, Glasses, don’t you dare fall asleep on me—hang in there!”

Though half-unconscious, the bespectacled man’s mind was surprisingly clear. Realizing Yang Tang had stood up for him and brought him to the hospital, he clung to Yang Tang’s arm as he regained some awareness. “C-call my dad... 63...6396056...”

“Six what?” Yang Tang asked.

Before he could say the last digit, the bespectacled man lost consciousness again, leaving Yang Tang at his wit’s end. If not for the sake of virtue, he thought, who would want to get involved in this mess?

But since he was involved, Yang Tang could only carry the bespectacled man into the hospital as well.

Ye Ni had done her part well—by now, a doctor and a nurse were already waiting with a stretcher, guided by her.

Once the bespectacled man was placed on the stretcher, the emergency doctor gave him a quick examination and said sternly, “His blood pressure is low—likely caused by internal bleeding from a fractured rib puncturing an organ. He needs surgery immediately!”

“Then hurry, please!” Yang Tang urged.

A group of people rushed the bespectacled man into the operating room.

“By the way, which of you is the patient’s family?” the doctor asked.

Yang Tang hesitated. “I’ll notify them right away.”

“Fine, do it quickly. Once the family arrives, have them sign the consent forms. Xiao Tang, keep an eye on this!” the doctor finished, now speaking to the nurse.

Seeing he was no longer needed, Yang Tang retreated to the hallway, ready to make a call, when Ye Ni caught up to him.

“Thank you for today,” she said.

“It’s nothing!” Ye Ni waved her hand. “Do you know Glasses?”

Yang Tang shook his head. “No, I just borrowed a basketball from him.”

“Then why are you thanking me?” Ye Ni smiled. “It’s funny, you know!”

At that moment, Longlong and Wang Dong arrived together.

Ye Ni glanced at Wang Dong, as if suddenly recalling something, and pointed at him. “Dongzi, former starting point guard for the Singapore men’s basketball team.”

Yang Tang was stunned. “You’re foreigners? I couldn’t tell from your accents!”

Ye Ni corrected him, “Not foreigners. Singaporean Chinese. My grandfather always says, ‘A falling leaf returns to its roots, and one must remember the source of the water they drink...’”

Yang Tang hurriedly made a gesture to cut her off. “Glasses is still in surgery. I should call his family, alright?”

“Go ahead!”

******

Thankfully, before losing consciousness again, Glasses managed to recite seven digits of an eight-digit fixed-line number. Yang Tang tried the last digit from zero through six, and when he dialed six, he finally got through.

“Hello, who is this?” The voice was that of a middle-aged man—hoarse, but still authoritative.

“Hello, do you know someone nicknamed Glasses? About five foot nine or ten, skinny build, plays basketball.”

“Hmm? Did he give you this number? Where is he?”

“You must be Glasses’ father, then...”

“That’s right. Where is he? Put him on the phone!”

“Glasses was beaten up during a game—he’s in the People’s Hospital near the college, now in surgery.”

“My people will be there at once!”

Less than two minutes after Yang Tang hung up, three uniformed police officers arrived, storming down the corridor to the emergency room. The sharp-chinned officer in the lead barked, “Where’s the doctor? The emergency doctor?”

A nurse promptly came out to answer. “Officers, who are you looking for?”

“Was there a student with glasses brought in for emergency treatment just now?” the sharp-chinned officer asked.

“Yes, that’s right. He’s been in surgery for a few minutes now,” the nurse replied, then glanced at Yang Tang. “He and another girl brought the young man in.”

The sharp-chinned officer immediately fixed Yang Tang with a hostile glare.

Yang Tang met his gaze without flinching. “Officer, Glasses is in surgery now. Besides the doctors, there’s nothing you can do to help at the moment. What’s urgent is catching the ones who attacked him.”

The officer stared Yang Tang down. “We don’t need you to tell us how to do our jobs. How do I know you’re not the one who beat up Xiao Hao?”

As if expecting this, Yang Tang didn’t protest or get angry. He simply said, “If I were the attacker, Glasses wouldn’t have given me your number.”

The officer considered this and had to concede the point, his demeanor easing considerably. “Still, we’ll need to check your background.”

“No worries. I have nothing to hide.”

The officer’s expression brightened. “That’s a clever turn of phrase!”

“Whether it’s clever or not doesn’t matter—what matters is, Ye Ni paid the surgery fees out of pocket. You’ll need to reimburse her,” Yang Tang said, gesturing toward Ye Ni and her companions approaching, “and her car’s back seat is covered in blood. The cleaning fee...”

“Don’t worry!” The officer waved him off. “As long as Xiao Hao is alright, everything can be worked out.” The implication was clear—if anything happened to Glasses, Yang Tang and Ye Ni might not get off so easily.

Yang Tang shot the officer a disgruntled look, just about to retort, when a sudden insight dawned on him.

“The one you saved has escaped mortal danger. You have gained ten virtue points!”

“The one you saved has had his lifespan extended by eleven years, accumulating 8.2 virtue points and 1,304.3 sin points!”

“You have gained 8.2 virtue points and 1,304.3 sin points!”

The string of revelations left Yang Tang dazed, especially the enormous weight of sin, which sent a chill down his spine.

So, it turned out, he’d saved a major villain.

The key was, according to this “insight,” Glasses would have died from the beating today if not for Yang Tang’s intervention. Now, because of his help, the man had gained eleven more years of life—and who knew how many people he’d harm in that time?

OMG!!

For the first time, Yang Tang tasted the extreme conflict of wanting to earn virtue (and sin), yet not wanting to unleash an evildoer upon the world. The feeling was... like the tail of a dead fish—unbearably sour.

Should he look for a chance to finish Glasses off with [Scarred Hand]?

The thought popped into Yang Tang’s mind and startled him.

Honestly, Yang Tang wouldn’t have batted an eye at killing ducks, fish, cats, or dogs—after all, in his previous life, when pet ownership was banned in his neighborhood, he’d been a leader in the dog-catching team, and had enjoyed plenty of dog meat hotpots.

But when it came to killing a person, he just didn’t have the guts.

...

“Hey, are you alright?” Ye Ni nudged the distracted Yang Tang.

“Oh, oh... I’m fine!” Yang Tang snapped out of it and made up an excuse. “I just have no idea how long Glasses’ surgery will take. I hope we’re not keeping you, Ye Ni?”