As the three men were now taken care of, Mingshen got to work. He knelt down near Lim and made some temporary stitches. He then pressed a big swab of cotton on his wound and wrapped white dressings around Lim’s waist.
Jia worriedly asked, "He would be okay, right? I will call the ambulance."
He smiled. "Your question hurts me, Spicy. Also, the ambulance is already on its way."
"How did you figure to call for one?"
"I can make an educated guess if my lovely and fearsome Spicy takes too long to rescue a hostage against a lone man."
"...Turns out there were two more."
She noticed the small puncture on Lim’s shoulder and asked, "What had you injected him with?"
His face shone with utmost pride like a child. "A special medicine I prepared to coagulate the blood for injuries like these. It clots blood and slows down the blood loss."
"I see."
Jia sighed in relief. She paused and stared at him silently with an unreadable expression.
"Are you falling for my charisma, Spicy?"
"The charisma falls apart the moment you talk."
Mingshen clicked his tongue. "So not honest."
He got up when Lim’s first aid was done. He twirled his scalpel in his hand and crossed to the end of the room where the hostage woman was. She slowly opened her eyes and jolted with his presence so near.
"Why do I see fear in your beautiful eyes?" Mingshen tilted his head.
What do you hope to see in them when I see you stabbing that man’s eye?
"Mmm! Mmm!" She trembled, gazing pleadingly at Jia.
Jia gave her an assured nod. "He is on my team."
"Ah, that sounds such music to my ears~ Spicy, why don’t you say that again?"
"Just help her out."
Mingshen freed her from the ropes and tape that allowed her to finally breathe. She gasped, inhaling a much needed deep breath. She looked at the three dead men in her home and covered her mouth feeling nauseous.
Mingshen chirped. "First aid treatment with three dead men’s company would be so dull. So head outside."
"..."
"Can you walk?"
She looked at the shiny scalpel and twitchingly smiled. "Y-Yes..."
"Perfect~ I will be right outside."
The woman shuddered as she came in proximity to the goons. For a moment, she thought they would grab her again. She quickly made her way to the living room outside and waited there.
Jia helped Lim to be in a more comfortable position. With the bed’s support, she gradually lifted herself up. Pain shot up in her knee and she stumbled down again.
Mingshen swiftly caught her arm. "Is it my lucky day today to have Spicy as my patient too~?"
"I am not a patient."
"The injured ligaments in your knee don’t say so. That was one vicious kick."
Her brows furrowed with discomfort, but she waved it off. "I will be fine. Lim is in a more precarious condition than me."
"Come outside. I need to check that knee."
She looked at the three men. "And leave him here alone?"
"They are dead and he is asleep. Nobody is in danger. You want me to move him and risk triggering his blood flow again? He needs to be directly in the hospital now."
Jia grimaced but agreed with him. She put all the pressure on her left healthy leg to walk. But her right injured knee still posed a problem.
So Mingshen picked her up like a sack of rice behind his back.
"What are you doing!?"
"The thing you like decent people doing. Helping."
"Like this?" She asked, speechless.
"Oh my. You wish for a princess carry?" He expectantly asked.
"I don’t wish for any kind of a carry."
"As my valuable research subject, I sincerely disagree."
The woman outside was dumbfounded to see the state Jia was in. Mingshen put her on the couch. "Don’t move your leg."
He looked back at the woman and smiled. "Are you ready?"
She squeezed herself back on the other couch, alert and cautious. "Ready for what?"
He blinked. "First aid. Or do you think I have any other sinful intentions?"
Ah, first aid. I forgot.
"T-There would be no injections, right?"
He paused and laughed out heartily. "My injections are for only naughty people. Are you naughty?"
"I am the simplest woman on this earth."
"Then rejoice. You are luckily not that injured."
True enough, she had some minor cuts on her cheek and temple while a bruise was beginning to form on her left arm. Fortunately, nothing was serious.
Now that the woman was getting the treatment she needed, Jia asked, "What is your name?"
"Zhang Luqi."
"Zhang Luqi. I am Superitendent Song Jia. He is my colleague Dr. Yang Mingshen. The officer who is injured is Officer Lim. What exactly happened here?"
She spoke tremblingly as Mingshen was cleaning her cuts. "I had called for a plumber today. The kitchen’s tap was leaking so I wanted it to get fixed. The doorbell rang after some time and I let the man in, who claimed he was the plumber."
"Which man?"
"The first man you and the other officer met. He was quick to reveal that he was not the plumber and...s-soon turned violent. He hit me..." tears rimmed her eyes.
"I don’t know what was happening at all. I don’t know what he wanted. He wasn’t saying anything. But I begged him and acted as if I was extremely hungry. I lied that I have an abusive husband and he didn’t let me eat anything last night. The man then let me use my phone to place a food order, which was when I called the bureau. But I didn’t know that he had more of his friends coming. Two minutes after I talked to you, two more men came inside."
She paled. "I was horrified. There were now three men, but I mentioned only one to you. I had no way to warn you anymore. These new men looked smarter than the first man."
Jia shook her head. "You don’t have to feel guilty, Zhang Luqi. I had figured out the other two must have arrived after our call or there was no way you would have given the wrong count. You did a great job with the call."
She wiped her eyes, nodding her head.
"I thought I was done for. Three men suddenly barged into my house. At first, I really thought they would do something terrible to me...I took them to be psycho stalkers," she shivered.
Jia held her hand and patted it warmly to reassure her. "You are safe now."
"Yes..."
"What did they want? Did they say anything?"
Her face changed color. "T-They wanted-"
Her phone rang, giving her a jolt. By then, Mingshen’s treatment was over, so she went and fetched it. "I am really sorry. If you can excuse me for a moment."
"No problem," Jia smiled.
Zhang Luqi picked it and heard a frantic voice from the other side. Her eyes widened in horror. "What!?"
She talked some more and hung up in a hurry. She looked at Jia, panicked. "I-I am really sorry! I need to head to my husband’s office. His boss died and somehow the blame came upon my husband..."
Jia blinked and asked, "Wait, does your husband work in Infiniti Technologies?"
"Yes," she was surprised. "How do you know?"
"My colleague is handling the case. That was the second case that came at the same time as your distress call."
"That’s terrible! I have to be there for him. They have gotten the wrong guy. Feiyu would rather kill himself with all that negativity than coldly kill someone. He is just not that kind of a man," she shook her head, "Feiyu lacks assertiveness. I don’t know if he is even trying to defend himself."
Jia glanced a question at Mingshen to which he shrugged. "She is okay to go."
"Thank you very much!"
"Wait, let me accompany you too. My fellow officer is there anyway."
Mingshen smiled. "She goes. You don’t."
Jia scowled. "My knee is fine."
"Your knee needs the hospital. And if I say that, then you stay here."