The Hospital Visit

At that very moment, Tu Ran was fast asleep on the soft bed in her hotel room.

She had slipped back around four in the morning.

She'd asked Zero if there were any potential gene-monster suspects in the Pandalim District.

Zero replied: none.

Normally, Zero would be the first to detect latent gene monsters or receive reports of suspicious individuals, then notify the Executive Department, whose guards would go verify, and once confirmed, they'd clear the area before calling in a Pioneer to handle it.

That process took at least two to three hours.

So after Zero said no, Tu Ran made the snap decision to head back to the hotel and catch some sleep.

At 11:00 Federation Time, Tu Ran woke up naturally.

She stared at the pristine white ceiling for a while, and as her mind cleared, she sprang upright in one fluid motion, full of energy.

She picked up her communicator and checked it—no work alerts, no messages from anyone else. Tu Ran's mood brightened even further. The next eight hours were hers to do with as she pleased.

Sitting on the bed, she happily ordered lunch—four dishes, one soup, and rice—then tossed her communicator aside and got up to shower.

After changing into a casual outfit, the room-service robot rolled in with her meal.

It scanned Tu Ran's face to confirm she was the guest being served.

The robot extended its mechanical arm and set the four dishes and soup onto the table with steady precision, even arranging the chopsticks neatly beside the bowl.

Tu Ran casually gave it a thumbs-up for its attentive service.

A smiley face immediately appeared on the robot's black electronic screen, along with a stream of little heart bubbles.

"Enjoy your meal."

With that, the robot backed out, and the door slid shut automatically.

Tu Ran dug into her lunch.

She ate quickly, and once she'd polished off the entire four-dish, one-soup meal, she strapped a pistol and a dagger to her waist and headed out.

This outfit couldn't hide much in the way of weapons.

Of course, the Federation had open gun laws—she could walk down the street with a submachine gun slung over her shoulder and no one would bat an eye.

But that would be way too conspicuous, and it wouldn't help with what she had planned next.

Tu Ran suddenly wished she had a spatial ability—something that would let her store weapons she couldn't carry on her person, ready to pull out at any moment.

Like that laser gun, which was a shame to leave behind.

But abilities weren't like stones on the roadside; she couldn't just pick up as many as she wanted.

As far as she knew, none of the people around her had abilities.

If she wanted to get one, she'd have to target the central figures of those wealthy families.

They'd been hoarding inner cores for over half a month now—they had to be loaded with resources.

Tu Ran's first target was Nick Wells. Xi Chunzhi's inner core was in his belly.

She needed to dig it out!

Tu Ran didn't know what could wake Xi Chunzhi up. So far, no one had ever studied how to revive a Pioneer who'd lost their inner core.

But deep down, Tu Ran had a hunch: if she could find Xi Chunzhi's missing inner core and feed it back to her, she might wake up.

There was no real basis for it—just her own guess.

But it was worth a shot. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Following Zero's directions, Tu Ran boarded a maglev tram heading to Xixin Nange Hospital.

The hospital was in Luqing City, the area overseen by Zhao Yan and Ding Naiqing, a good distance from the Pandalim District.

It took her forty-five minutes to get there.

After getting off the tram, Tu Ran popped a hidden earpiece into her ear and pulled on a mask to hide her face.

In her ear, Zero gave her real-time directions to Xixin Nange Hospital.

After a few minutes' walk, the hospital's massive golden sign came into view.

Behind the sign was a meticulously landscaped courtyard, decorated with artificial rockeries and fake trees so lifelike they looked real, lush and green. This kind of scenery was almost nowhere else in the Federation—even the Medical Department had only a few scattered fake trees.

Further back, a row of interconnected European-style buildings rose and fell in an elegant skyline, their exteriors lavishly decorated.

Even from this distance, Tu Ran could smell the money.

The whole place didn't look like a hospital at all—more like a park.

"Xixin Nange Hospital has seventy-one branches across forty-two states in the Federation, all serving the wealthiest locals. According to last year's statistics, the average consultation cost per visit was 2,650 Federation credits."

Zero's voice was still flat and emotionless as it introduced the hospital in her ear.

2,650 Federation credits—that was close to half her monthly salary.

"So how rich do I have to look to get Nick Wells to see me personally?"

"To get Nick Wells to see you personally, you'd first need to complete a full baseline physical at Xixin Nange Hospital, which would run you at least 50,000 credits. Then you'd need to book an appointment with him—another 50,000 credits. Since others have already booked ahead of you, you might not get in within three days. To see him today, you'd need to pay an additional 100,000 credits."

"All told, you'd need at least 200,000 credits to see Nick Wells."

Tu Ran stopped in her tracks.

"Forget it. I don't have to get to him through this route after all."

Two hundred thousand credits—that would cost her an arm and a leg.

Zero's voice turned cold. "Nick Wells himself lives at Xixin Nange Hospital. He almost never leaves, and even when he does step out for occasional Federation meetings, he's under heavy guard—you can't get anywhere near him. So unless you go to him as a patient, you'll have a hard time finding another opportunity to meet him."

Tu Ran felt her heart sink. "Two hundred thousand credits—I can't afford that."

Zero hesitated for a rare moment. "Why don't you use the official account?"

"Official account?" Tu Ran's brows snapped together. "There's an official account?"

She racked her brain, searching the original body's memories for anything about an official account, but found nothing.

The original body's memories didn't contain those words.

Zero realized then that this Tu Ran wasn't the same one from before.

It was normal that she didn't remember.

"Yes. Xie Xu opened an account, and the money in it is for all his subordinates to use, including you. You can withdraw from it directly."

Tu Ran swallowed hard. "Two hundred thousand credits… I can just withdraw that? Isn't that too much? And it's not like I'm using it for Xie Xu's business—it's my own personal matter."

"Of course you can," Zero said. "Two hundred thousand credits is nothing in that account. And since you're worried about spending official funds on personal matters, let me reassure you: the account holds your wages, bonuses, and rewards for working under Xie Xu. How you spend it is your business—spend it wherever you like."