Chapter 653 — Just Throw Him Away

The tattooed man was briefly taken aback. Could something have gone wrong on An Liwen's end? He thought about calling again, but feared An Liwen might scold him for it, so he said to Dr. Wang, "Same as before — find someone to dump him at the hospital entrance!"

Wei Zhao had had a kidney cut out. If he was not hospitalized and treated for a while, there was a very real chance he would die. The tattooed man knew An Liwen meant to teach Wei Zhao a lesson, but Wei Zhao absolutely could not be killed here! If An Liwen had wanted him dead, he would not have taken just one kidney — he might well have taken both.

So the tattooed man hesitated only a moment before deciding to use the old method: dump Wei Zhao at the hospital entrance, and naturally someone there would treat him.

Zhong Fabai thanked them profusely and took Zhong Yongliang home to recover, and the tattooed man of course had to drive the Zhong father and son back — because on the way there, to keep the Zhong father and son from learning the location of the headquarters, the tattooed man had deliberately driven a business van with a completely sealed rear compartment.

As for poor An Liwen, Dr. Wang gave a very capable wave of his hand, and a few burly men came in, dragged him out of the operating room like a corpse, and carelessly tossed him into a battered, unlicensed van that then headed off in the direction of the hospital. Passing the First People's Hospital, An Liwen was flung down at the hospital entrance like a dead dog, and the van sped away...

After delivering the Zhong father and son to the hospital, the tattooed man drove back to the kidney-harvesting ring's headquarters. But what he had not expected was that shortly after his return, he received a call from the hook-nosed man!

"Brother Tattoo, we've got trouble — that girl in the dungeon has run off!" The hook-nosed man was sweating profusely with anxiety. Earlier he had pumped an aphrodisiac into the dungeon. He had meant to check on Qiu Lingshan through the surveillance footage, but then it occurred to him that this girl was meant for the tattooed man to enjoy — if he looked first and saw some unseemly scene, might the tattooed man hold a grudge against him? At that thought, the hook-nosed man had not dared watch the footage!

But later, on second thought, he felt it wasn't safe; he had no idea whether the aphrodisiac had taken effect. So he went to the monitoring room and turned on the surveillance feed — only to discover, to his surprise, that the screen showed nothing but a signal interruption!

Astonished, the hook-nosed man hurried to the dungeon to check. What he found there gave him a fright! The dungeon's iron door had been forcibly broken down, and Qiu Lingshan was long gone!

The hook-nosed man turned pale with shock and immediately phoned the tattooed man to report the situation — which was why the tattooed man received this call right after returning to headquarters.

"Run off? How did she run off? Where did she go?" The tattooed man was startled too and demanded at once. This was Qiu Lingshan of the criminal police squad — no laughing matter! If she really had escaped, wouldn't the headquarters be raided along with it?

"I don't know either — the surveillance footage in the dungeon has been destroyed..." the hook-nosed man said cautiously.

"Didn't I tell you to drug her? How could she still get away?" The tattooed man was furious. Surely the hook-nosed man hadn't forgotten?

"I did drug her — I gave her the aphrodisiac just as you ordered, waiting for you to come and have her. How was I to know the girl could still run?" the hook-nosed man said with a bitter face.

"What? You gave her an aphrodisiac? Who told you to give her an aphrodisiac?" The tattooed man was nearly mad with rage at these words! An aphrodisiac for Qiu Lingshan? Was he out of his mind?

"You did..." The hook-nosed man could not understand what he had done wrong. "Didn't you say to drug her?"

"I told you to drug her, but not with an aphrodisiac!" The tattooed man was so angry he nearly rolled his eyes. This idiot was far too good at taking his meaning into his own hands!

"Huh? Earlier you said you wanted to enjoy this girl... I thought you meant for me to give her an aphrodisiac..." the hook-nosed man said, aggrieved.

"Damn it! Now we're in trouble!" Hearing the hook-nosed man's explanation, the tattooed man understood how the misunderstanding had come about. In truth it was not entirely the hook-nosed man's fault — he himself had not spoken clearly, and that was what had caused this whole mix-up!

Qiu Lingshan was a Yellow-rank expert. Undrugged, she would certainly wake up, and it was hardly surprising that she had fled. The key question was: where had she gone? Was she still near headquarters, or had she already gotten out?

"Brother Tattoo, did I make a mess of things?" The hook-nosed man could tell the matter seemed more serious than it appeared. By rights, a captured kidney source was just that — if one ran off, one ran off; there was no need for such alarm. But the tattooed man's reaction was clearly not that of a trivial matter.

"Shut the headquarters gates at once and search for that girl with everything we have!" The tattooed man had to make a decision on the spot and gave the hook-nosed man his orders. He feared that any further delay would be too late — once Qiu Lingshan got out of headquarters and could contact the outside world, everything would be finished!

Only after giving the order did the tattooed man hurriedly dial An Liwen's number...

When Wei Zhao left, he first went to the room where he had been held and put on his clothes, then casually tossed An Liwen's clothes and phone down inside the room.

So after the tattooed man dialed, the phone rang until it hung up automatically, and no one answered! The tattooed man was frantic but had no other recourse — he could only redial An Liwen's number over and over again!

One way or another, An Liwen had to be informed of this at the first opportunity, so that he could prepare a response. Otherwise, if Qiu Lingshan really had escaped, not a single one of them would get away!

Suddenly, sirens wailed outside the window, rising and falling in waves. The tattooed man's heart lurched; he raised his head and looked out, and there, surrounding the headquarters on every side, were dozens of police cars, among them no small number of SWAT vehicles. Red and blue lights flashed and interwove, a spectacle to behold.

The tattooed man gave a bitter laugh. Finished — utterly finished! His attempt to make amends had plainly come too late. Qiu Lingshan had long since escaped, and had gathered her forces to surround his headquarters!

By now, the tattooed man had not the slightest thought of resisting or fleeing. Ringed in by such a host of police, unless he could turn invisible or were Ultraman himself, there was simply no winging his way out.

Only — where had An Liwen gone? In his heart the tattooed man hoped that An Liwen was not at headquarters at this moment; that way, so long as An Liwen was safe, he himself could rest easy.