After some time, Ning Tao slowly opened his eyes. He struggled to his feet and looked at his right wrist. The wound from the black dog had scarred over, but he still felt a dull ache in it.
"That damn mad dog!" Ning Tao got angry at the thought of the black dog.
Boom!
There was a sudden jolt in Ning Tao's mind, like a door was opened and something was flooding into his head!
It was smell, all kinds of smell.
He smelled the blood, the disinfectant, the dust, the plastic, the iron, the synthetic fiber, even his own smell...
There was no telling how many smells came into his nose and his brain processed them into corresponding messages, some clear, some vague, some familiar, some strange which he had never sensed.
"I..." Ning Tao stood stupefied.
Momentarily, he remembered the black dog and the knowledge of dogs.
Dogs were capable of smelling two million different odors and finding and targeting the odors they were looking for in a complex array of scents. Besides, dogs could also detect odors at concentrations 100 million times lower than those that humans could detect.
"Is... is the dog that bit me... the deified dog?" A strange idea suddenly came upon Ning Tao.
"Oh..."
"That ungrateful dog!"
Ning Tao's nose twitched a little, and he found the dog's scent among thousands of complex smells. The smells were like footprints in the air, reaching down to the stairs.
Ning Tao followed the smell of the black dog to the door of his small room, and then was surprised to see a very strange blood on the ground, which looked like an arrow indicating the direction!
Ning Tao had no intention of looking for the black dog, but he changed his mind when he saw the arrow-like blood stains. He proceeded along the scent of the black dog.
Outside the laboratory building was quiet, and the campus was bathed in bright moonlight.
Ning Tao checked the time on his phone and realized he had been in a coma for about five hours.
The smell left by the black dog extended towards the school gate, and Ning Tao locked it on the ground and chased it all the way. Unwilling to admit it, he now acted like a trained search dog.
Along the scent, Ning Tao left the school gate, crossed several streets, and finally tracked down to the mountain behind a community.
In the moonlight, the trees and rocks on the mountain were hazy, and an old dirt path stretched upward. The foliage swayed and whimpered in the night wind.
Walking along the path, listening to the ghostly crying, Ning Tao was a little scared. "There are no ghosts in the world. Besides, I haven't done anything evil, so I should not be afraid even if there are really ghosts... I must find that black dog, I must find out what it is..."
Halfway up the hill, an old house came into view on a flat ground. The house was made of clay tiles, earthen walls, a fenced courtyard wall covered with honeysuckle and mottled and decaying gates which seemed to have existed for hundreds of years.
The old house was dark without light.
The smell of black dog lingered in the yard.
Ning Tao came to the gate, got up his courage, knocked on the door. "Excuse me, is anyone there?" He asked.
There was no response.
Ning Tao knocked on the door again. "Excuse me, I'm coming in."
Then a light came on in one of the rooms, and an old man's voice said, "Who is it? It is already midnight."
Ning Tao's frayed nerve was reduced a little. He answered, "Mister, I am a student of the Shan City Medical University. Your dog bit me."
"Are you here to ask me for money?" The old man's voice asked.
Ning Tao hurriedly denied, "No, no, no, I just want to have a look at the dog. I'm not here for money."
"Come in, the door is unlocked."
So, Ning Tao pushed the door open, crossed the threshold and went to the lighted room.
The door of the room opened and an old man appeared in the doorway. He was white-haired and dressed in a Chinese Tang costume, looking like an artist living in seclusion in the mountains.
His room was also quite old, made of wooden beams and walls, hung with landscape calligraphy and paintings, with signs of age everywhere. It was a simple room, with a square table, four stools, and a shrine. Strangely, the shrine was not dedicated to gods and ancestors, but a rather ancient looking thread-bound book.
This was Ning Tao's first impression of the room. After all, it would be embarrassed to observe carefully. He cut to the chase, "Mister, I'd like to see your dog..."
Splash!
The old man fell flat on his back before Ning Tao could finish speaking.
"Mister?" Ning Tao exclaimed and hurriedly went inside to help the old man, but the old man lay motionless on the ground no matter how Ning Tao pulled him.
Ning Tao immediately knelt beside the old man and put his hand under his nose. The old man had stopped breathing. Ning Tao instantly felt his carotid artery, and found that his pulse stopped.
"He's dead?" Ning Tao's heart nearly popped out of his throat.
But as a medical student, he had not only dissected the body but also slept in the room where the body was, so he soon regained his composure and performed CPR on the old man. He first pressed on the old man's chest, then breathed into his mouth.
About a minute later, a strange sound came from the old man's throat, and then his heartbeat and breathing returned, and his eyes opened.
Ning Tao took out his cell phone to call the ambulance.
The old man suddenly reached out and grabbed Ning Tao by the wrist and said in a weak voice, "Don't call the ambulance, young man... I don't want to go to the hospital..."
"No," Ning Tao anxiously said. "You're in a dangerous condition. You have to go to the hospital for a physical and hospitalization."
The old man shook his head and spoke disjointedly, "Young man, ahem... I am 99, an age when I'm failing. I could die any minute, ahem... What's the difference between going to the hospital or not? I don't want to die in a hospital bed... Besides, I don't have the money to go to the hospital..."
Ning Tao worriedly argued, "But..."
"Do me a favor, young man. Fetch me the, the medical book from... the shrine."
Ning Tao could not refuse. He got up and took the medical book from the shrine and put it in the old man's hand. He glanced at the medical book, but there was no title on the yellowing cover.
The old man's voice grew weaker. "Ahem... You are a good man, young man. I, Chen Pingdao, have never owed one in my life. You saved me, I want to repay you... My family has practiced medicine for generations, and handed down this nameless medical book and a clinic. I have no children. I will give them to you tonight."
"What?" Ning Tao immediately got flustered and quickly refused, "No, no, no, you misunderstood me, Mister. I'm a medical student. It's my duty to save lives. I can't accept your stuff."
The old man, who called himself Chen Pingdao, blinked his eyes and burst into tears. He made a choking noise and said, "This is it. I, I am dying tonight. Do you want me to die with regret? Then how can I meet my ancestors... Woo..."
By this time, Ning Tao's mind was in a turmoil. He was here looking for the dog. How did this come to be?
"Ooh... Ho..." Chen Pingdao made a sound of hard breathing, his eyes beginning to turn white, but he managed to speak, "You, you go and take the, the contract out of the drawer under the desk... If you don't accept my medical book and clinic, I'll die unsatisfied and haunt you as a ghost!"
"Well, I'll get it. I'll get it now. Don't get excited. You're going to be fine." Ning Tao hurriedly went to the square table, opened the drawer and took out the contents.
It was a prepared real estate transfer contract, even with a pen for signing.
"Sign, sign it... I'm dying... Quickly!" Chen Pingdao quavered, looking ready to die.
Ning Tao opened the contract and took a look. It was indeed a real estate transfer contract. The contract was very simple, which basically said Chen Pingdao was willing to transfer the ownership of the Sky Clinic in Garden Street to the signatory. The contract had the seal of the notary office and the signature of Chen Pingdao on it, which looked very formal.
Worried that the old man's excitement might cause other heart problems, Ning Tao sucked it up and signed the contract.
Chen Pingdao continued in a trembling voice, "It's fate, young man, that lead us to meet each other. I have no wine here, but there is tea on the table. Make two cups of tea, and let's drink a cup of tea instead of wine, to toast our fate. Then, I'll have no regrets on the way to... Ahem..."
Ning Tao, who was also affected by his mood, felt a little bitter. He unscrewed the teapot on the table and made two cups of tea. Then he lifted Chen Pingdao up and leaned him in his arms. After clinking the two cups, he gulped down the tea in his cup.
The smell of the tea was sweet. A mentally cool and refreshing taste ran through Ning Tao's mouth. He found it very fancy. After drinking this cup of tea, Ning Tao felt totally comfortable. "What kind of tea is this, Mister?" He tried to distract the old man.
"It's the common bamboo leaf-green tea, but I put a little medicine in it." Chen Pingdao answered, his voice no longer trembling.
Ning Tao was instantly taken aback. "Why... What kind of medicine is that?"
Chen Pingdao suddenly got up from Ning Tao's arms. "Don't worry. It's just a small Nirvana Elixir. It has the effect of clearing your marrow and renewing your muscles, removing toxins from your body, awakening your innate spirituality and talent, enhancing your strength and speed, and sharpening your sense of smell and vision." He told Ning Tao. "In short, it is the foundational medicine for your cultivation journey. When I bit you, I gave you a little bit of cultivation, as my compensation for you. Also, remember, go to the clinic as soon as you wake up. The longer you wait, the worse it will be."
"You liar..." Ning Tao didn't even finish what he was about to say when he fell to the ground with a thud.
"I'm free at last! There's a divine justice after all! Hahaha!" Chen Pingdao shouted like a madman, completely different from what he acted before.
Ning Tao vaguely heard what Chen Pingdao said before his mind went completely dark...
Several hours later, Ning Tao was slowly back to full consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he saw the dense tree canopy and the golden sunlight pouring down from the branches and leaves. Ning Tao rolled out of the ground and looked around. There was no old house or Chen Pingdao around. He was standing on a hillside with trees, thorns and weeds all round but without even a path! However, the medical book and the transfer contract that Chen Pingdao gave him were still in his hands, and they were real, not an illusion. "Oh!" Ning Tao suddenly remembered something. "Chen Pingdao smells exactly like that black dog, and he said he had given me a bit of cultivation. He's the black dog! Have... have I really run into a ghost?" After pausing for a short while, Ning Tao opened the medical book to read it. The content of the medical book was quite concise, with only four chapters, namely, looking, smelling, elixirs and acupuncture. The
Ning Tao strode under the archway of Garden Street and into the quiet street. The street were paved with blue flagstones, marked with the traces of people, mules and horses. Each piece exuded the weight of history. The Sky Clinic was at the end of Garden Street. It was a low, blue-tiled house, with moss and ivy covering its stone walls, making it cannot be greener. It had no facade, only a wooden door set in the stone wall, and the paint on the door had almost come off. If it hadn't been for the signboard which read "The Sky Clinic" on the lintel, Ning Tao would probably have thought he was in front of a poor mountaineer's house. "Is this a clinic?" Ning Tao wondered helplessly. Glancing back at the street where he'd come from, Ning Tao found it empty. In terms of appearance and location, the clinic was doomed to fail even if it had not opened yet. "Well, since I'm here, I'd better go in and have a look." Ning Tao
It took Ning Tao most of the day to tidy up the Sky Clinic. The jumble of bottles and cans were all arranged in good order. The blood graffiti written by Chen Pingdao on the right wall was also cleaned without leaving a trace. During the cleaning process, Ning Tao had attempted to open the doors on the walls on both sides, but he failed. The clinic's ledger gave him a hint that it took 5,000 points of the merits of good intention and sins of evil intention to open a door. In total, opening two doors would cost 10,000 points, which was more than four years' rent for the clinic. Ning Tao came to the conclusion that this was not the Sky Clinic at all, but a baleful clinic! "No wonder Chen Pingdao has never entered the two stores. How could he have enough good and bad values to open the two doors when the clinic is close to bankruptcy under his management?" Ning Tao thought with a sigh. After cleaning up, Ning Tao started to study the stuff in t
It was Yang Hai who asked Ning Tao to stop. Beside him stood four fierce looking young men, all tattooed, who were obviously not good persons. Ning Tao guessed from his phone conversation with Ge Ming that Yang Hai tried to pick on him with a bunch of hooligans. But he didn't expect that they found him as soon as he hung up the phone. Had it happened before yesterday, he might have turned to run away. Now he would not hide, not even thinking of it. Ning Tao looked at Yang Hai with a bright smile on his face and asked, "Yang Hai, my old classmate, what do you want to see me about?" "What do I want to see you about?" Yang Hai sneered. "You know what you've done!" Ning Tao shrugged and said, "I've done more than I can remember. What are you talking about?" "Damn, you recommended the love hotel to me yesterday, and then you called director Tang to tell on it!" Yang Hai thundered. "While I was in the bathroom with Tang
As the door opened, a young woman in a housecoat came into view. "You?" The short-haired woman and Ning Tao almost spoke with one voice. What a coincidence! Ning Tao never imagined that Jiang Hao was the woman who almost fainted and he helped on the street. No wonder he got a sense of deja vu when he looked at the photo. If Jiang Hao had her hair cut short like she did now, he would recognize her at a glance at her photo. "Do you... know each other?" Ge Ming asked, surprised. "We met in the street." Ning Tao smiled and greeted, "Hello, Miss Jiang." Jiang Hao suddenly grabbed Ning Tao by the collar and snapped, "Who the hell are you? How do you know I'm here?" Apparently, the chance encounter on the street and the sudden appearance had touched her sensitive nerve as a policewoman. "We'll talk about it on the road. Now I'll feel your pulse and examine you." Ning Tao said and
Jiang Hao released Zou Yumei's hand and looked at Ning Tao with a little anger and doubt in her eyes. She didn't expect that Ning Tao was a senior without a medical license. The fact startled her. Ning Tao didn't explain, and only calmly said, "Miss Jiang, if you believe me, just give me a chance. It's also giving your father a chance; If you don't believe me, you can turn me out at any time." Jiang Hao's mouth twisted, but she didn't say anything. "Who's making that noise?" A man's loud voice suddenly came from the corridor, sounding angry. Tang Ling took a look in the direction of the voice and answered, "President Chen, someone is pretending to be a doctor and insisting on seeing one of our patients. I tried to stop him, but he hit me." "Who is so bold?" A man came up, followed by two hospital guards. He was Chen Zhengyi, the president of the Shan City Medical University. He seldom worked on duty
Ning Tao yanked the IV needle off the back of Jiang Yilong's hand and pushed his bed through the black hole in the wall. Then he entered the hole as well. During the whole process, Ning Tao felt like he was pushing a hospital bed through a dark tunnel without lights. After a second or two, he saw familiar objects, like the good-evil tripod with a human face, ancient desk and bookshelf, utensils of different materials and sizes, and some other things. He was back at the Sky Clinic. Ning Tao jerked his head back. The black hole had disappeared, and there was a blood lock pattern on the wall. Subconsciously, he glanced at the clinic key in his hand and realized that if he wanted to go back, he would have to insert the key into the blood lock and open the door again. Then the face on the good-evil tripod suddenly opened its eyes which was full of anger. When a kind person came, it smiled; when an evil person came, it
In the corridor. Tang Ling took a glance at the Omega watch that Mike gave her, and then looked at Jiang Hao standing at the door of the ward. "Miss Jiang, there are five minutes left," she said in a very friendly voice. "I know. I don't need you to remind me," Jiang Hao replied in a cold tone. Tang Ling shrugged and went on, "Miss Jiang, I know you'll be unhappy to hear the truth, but I have to tell you. That guy is my boyfriend's classmate, he is not a doctor. Up to now, he has not found the hospital that accepts him to go to practice. He has never treated any patient, nor cured anyone..." Jiang Hao interrupted Tang Ling, "Stop it. It doesn't interest me at all." Tang Ling went on, "Yesterday he badly hurt chief Ma of the personnel department of the hospital because chief Ma rejected him on the grounds of his mental problem. He is a very dangerous madman, and I'm really worried about your father."