Guan Yi tilted his head, his face full of distrust: "You're not actually planning to use this opportunity to beat him up, are you?"
"..."
Boss Wang Dong was indeed a true friend. After hearing what Chen Xu said, he immediately led a group of men over. When he saw Chen Xu at the entrance of the building, he said, "Chen Xu, are you sure? This is no small matter!"
"Why would I bother you with something so trivial?" Chen Xu rolled his eyes. "You juniors have all heard of my nickname, Chen the Half-Immortal, right? How could you be wrong? Go to his dorm later. If he's nice and polite, we'll take him to the hospital properly. If he doesn't listen, you can bring some people up there and beat him until he submits! Anyway, we're going to the hospital soon, so a few extra injuries don't matter... But be careful, don't let him bite you."
Wang Dong rolled his eyes and said that beating someone up wouldn't be a problem, but since they were all from this hospital, it wasn't right to use such a vicious attack. It's not that I don't trust you, but why don't you examine my brother? If you can find out what's wrong with him, I'll go with you right now!
Chen Xu turned his head and saw that it was the same animal who had been with Wang Dong at the police station entrance that day, but his complexion didn't look too good. So Chen Xu pretended to touch his chest, then squeezed his pulse, and pretended to check his watch... actually just to see the numbers on the watch.
Having done his part, Chen Xu said it was nothing. "Brother, did you drink too much yesterday? You had your stomach pumped, but you still have some stomach bleeding. Drink more milk."
"Great!" Wang Dong and the others' eyes widened, saying that Chen Banxian truly lived up to his reputation!
Chen Xu chuckled and said, "Now you can trust me, right?"
Wang Dong spat heavily and said, "Brothers, grab your weapons, be careful, don't get bitten!"
Chapter 38 of the main text: Even a rabbit will bite when cornered!
Chen Xu led Wang Dong and the others in a grand procession towards Liu Lingtian's dormitory. Coincidentally, Liu Lingtian's dormitory was right above Chen Xu's, room 307! Chen Xu thought to himself with some fear, "What if this bastard holds a grudge against me later? He doesn't even need to come downstairs. He just needs to do a set of the eighth set of broadcast gymnastics in the dormitory every day, and the dust on our ceiling will fall down with a whoosh."
Guan Yi patted him on the back and scolded, "How could that be? If what you said is really true, people will be grateful to you. How could you do such a thing?"
Seeing this devilish woman, Chen Xu rolled his eyes in annoyance and said, "Sister, this is a boys' dormitory. I told you not to come in, but you insisted. And if you're going to come in, why are you dressed so flamboyantly and stylishly? Don't you know how to be low-key? Do you want some horny animal to drag you into the dormitory?"
Guan Yi had known Chen Xu for a while and knew his tendency to spout nonsense. He spat at him and said, "When would I have time to change clothes? Besides, do you think I wanted to come in? The boys' dorms are all like pigsties and smell so bad. But this matter concerns me, and I won't feel at ease if I don't come to check on him."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu's ears drooped. He said, "Sister, if you continue to be so promiscuous, I'm afraid your boyfriend will be the one who worries the most in the future."
When Guan Yi asked why, Chen Xu said, "Look at you, you're so easygoing... Uh, of course I don't mean anything by it, but you seem a little too approachable, aren't you? You're so good with words, people consider you a confidante after just a couple of conversations, and after a few more, they're practically vowing to marry you. And you're naturally the type to attract attention, aren't you just setting people up?"
Seeing Guan Yi pinching her ear and thinking carefully, Chen Xu thought to himself, "Oh no, this woman is so charming when she's thinking."
Wang Dong, who was walking ahead, also said, "Indeed, Guan Yi, you get along very easily with others, which is both a strength and a weakness. You know, the male-to-female ratio at Hexie University is 5:1, the ratio of beauties to ugly girls is 15:1, and the ratio of easy-going beauties is even less than 45:1. Even I, a third-year senior, have heard of your reputation. Quite a few guys have told me they really like you. This liking will probably change after a few interactions. To be honest, I've always disliked girls who think they're very pretty and put on airs. But for you, sometimes you really need to put on airs, otherwise you'll have trouble in the future."
Guan Yi shook his head: "Actually, I know what you're saying, but I don't really like it this way."
Hearing her say that, they all sighed, thinking that the beasts of Hexieda were in for trouble in the future, and that they should not be too presumptuous, especially in front of this vixen.
A group of people stormed to the door of dormitory 307. Wang Dong told everyone to wait outside while he knocked on the door and went in, only to find that Liu Lingtian wasn't there at all. Inside, only one guy was left, who, because it was hot, was lying on his bed playing computer games wearing only his underwear. Seeing that Wang Dong was followed by a beautiful woman, he let out a howl and scurried back inside, hurriedly pulling on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
"Liu Lingtian? He's not back! He just called and asked me to go drinking at the west gate of the school, but I didn't go."
Wang Dong, Chen Xu, and the others exchanged glances, knowing that this guy had gone to drown his sorrows in alcohol. Just as they were about to leave to look for him outside, Guan Yi suddenly asked, "Senior, have you noticed anything strange about Liu Lingtian lately?"
"Something's not right?" The guy scratched his head and said, "No, nothing's wrong. Oh, there's one thing that's not right. These past few days he's been muttering about having a crush on a pretty freshman girl and texting her every night."
Chen Xu and the others coughed a few times, deliberately avoiding looking at the somewhat embarrassed Guan Yi. Wang Dong asked, "Besides that? Has he been bitten by a dog recently?"
That beast chuckled and said, "Boss Wang Dong, you don't suspect he has rabies, do you?!"
Seeing the serious expressions on Wang Dong's and the others' faces, the beast's smile vanished. He swallowed hard and said, "Boss, don't scare me. He wouldn't really have... you know, would he?"
Wang Dong looked at his cowardly appearance with disdain and said, "What are you afraid of? Rabies isn't transmitted through contact."
The animal's expression brightened slightly, but then he jumped up again and cursed, "Damn it, the problem is that just two days ago a few of us went downstairs to play ball, and when we came back we didn't have any money on us, so we bought a bottle of mineral water. He drank from it, and then I drank from it! Will something happen?!"
Uh… Chen Xu looked at the animal whose face had turned a little pale with pity, patted him on the shoulder and said, “Senior, come with us to find Liu Lingtian. You can go to the hospital for a check-up later.”
The animal's throat twitched, and after a long while, it finally said, "No way, I've never heard Liu Lingtian mention being bitten by a dog. If he was bitten, it was by a rabbit!"
"rabbit?"
The guy nodded and said, "Medical school does experiments all the time, right? So there are mice, rabbits, and stuff like that in the lab. That day, a few of us passed by the breeding room and saw that no one was there, but there were several large cages full of rabbits. So we decided to just steal one and take it out to the restaurant near the school gate to have it cooked and improve our meals..."
Chen Xu and Guan Yi broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this. Chen Xu said, "You guys are really daring! I heard those rabbits were used for experiments and were injected with drugs, and you still dared to steal and eat them?"
At this moment, Wang Dong patted him on the shoulder and said it was alright. He'd done this kind of thing before, and the rabbits that were given the drugs were always after the experiments. To fully demonstrate the drug's effectiveness, the rabbits were always perfectly healthy beforehand. Even in medical school experiments, they just strapped the rabbits to the lab table, gave them anesthesia, and then dissected them to check the nerves, so generally, rabbits that had already undergone experiments were fine and could be eaten without any problems. By the way, that old man Li who guarded the lab always collected the rabbits after the experiments and cooked them for himself; his rabbit head soup was a specialty of Hexie University!
Hearing this, Chen Xu was even more embarrassed. He had always thought of himself as rather dark and evil, but he never expected that he was still scum compared to these old beasts! However, Chen Xu was also a little tempted. He thought that it would be fine to eat rabbits that had been anesthetized?
Wang Dong chuckled, "That's not necessarily true. Some students, on their first experiment, might use a bit too much anesthesia. Apparently, a few guys from the Civil Engineering department accidentally got caught eating rabbits with too much anesthesia last time, and ended up spending two days in the hospital. Normally, though, nothing bad will happen."
At this point, Wang Dong asked, "Was Liu Lingtian bitten when he was stealing rabbits?"
The animal said, "Yes, we secretly opened a cage, and Liu Lingtian, being the bravest, let him reach in and grab one. Strangely enough, the rabbits are usually quite docile, but that one big white rabbit seemed to go berserk and bit us, drawing blood! So we didn't dare to grab it anymore and turned around and ran away."
Sure enough, even a rabbit will bite when cornered! Wang Dong said disdainfully, "Damn, so this is the difference between sophomores and juniors. Back then, we just ran away with the cages in hand!" Chen Xu and the others broke out in a cold sweat again.
"However," Wang Dong scratched his head, "do rabbits get rabies too?"
“Yes,” Guan Yi said after thinking for a moment. “Rabies is just a general term; it’s not only dogs that get this disease. Cats, skunks, kangaroos, raccoons, and rabbits are also susceptible. Rabbits are generally quite docile, so if a dog is particularly aggressive and prone to attacking people, it might actually have rabies.”
"Is that so?" Chen Xu and the others said they didn't know. They only knew that dogs were the most common, and they had heard of cats, but a rabbit carrying rabies and biting a person and infecting them was something they had never heard of before. In other words, Liu Lingtian was really unlucky.
The situation was pretty much clear by now. Liu Lingtian might actually have contracted rabies because of this incident. Just as Wang Dong waved his hand and said, "Brothers, let's head to the West Gate," that beast from Liu Lingtian's dorm said, "Bosses, wait for me. I need to get checked out too."
While walking on the road, the animal heard that it was Chen Xu who had found it, and upon hearing that this junior was none other than the famous Chen Banxian from the academy, he grabbed Chen Xu and said, "Boss, you should check me out too!"
Chen Xu felt a little dizzy. He didn't want to reveal his abilities too much. Rabies was different from stomach ailments, especially since it was difficult to detect during the incubation period. Liu Lingtian had shown some symptoms before, and Wang Dong's classmate's stomach ailment could be explained by pulse diagnosis, so showing off these abilities was fine; at worst, people would think he had superb medical skills. But if someone could diagnose rabies just by spitting on him, Chen Xu was almost certain that after the news spread tomorrow morning, the dean of the medical school would probably be coming to the head of the information science department with two kitchen knives to demand his return.
To say whether Chen Xu was angry with Liu Lingtian or not, he definitely was! Not only was that guy being unreasonable, but he also spat on him.
However, Chen Xu couldn't bring himself to leave someone unrescued just because of such a small reason. Although Chen Xu never considered himself a saint who pitied all living beings, his grudge with Liu Lingtian was merely a minor conflict. There's no need to fuss over trivial matters between men. On one side was a small conflict that hardly counted as a grudge, and on the other side was a human life. Which was more important was naturally easy to choose.
If a man doesn't even have this much magnanimity, then he has truly lived in vain.
Chen Xu didn't see that Guan Yi's gaze towards him held more appreciation and affection.
Well, he's thinking to himself right now: "Being magnanimous is one thing, but grudges must be settled. I'll remember that spit; I'll beat you up later, and then we'll be even..."
Chapter 39 Uniform
Chen Xu and his group marched in a large group toward the west gate of the school. The west gate was not the main gate of the school. Outside the gate was a food street, which was basically for students of Hexie University. There was a wide variety of food outside, and the stalls usually stayed open until 11:30 p.m., after the school lights were turned off.
After Chen Xu and the others left the West Gate, they quickly found Liu Lingtian and his group drinking at a roadside food stall. From a distance, the guy seemed to be a bit tipsy. His classmates had noticed them, and he was still whispering something to the person next to him.
"Hey, Boss Wang Dong!" Wang Dong is very popular throughout the entire institute, and people immediately stood up to greet him as soon as they saw him coming.
Liu Lingtian looked over with blurry, drunken eyes, and upon seeing Wang Dong, he laughed and said, "Oh, Boss Wang Dong is here! Come, come, let me treat you to a drink!" Before he could finish speaking, he saw Chen Xu beside him, and his expression immediately changed.
Wang Dong looked at Liu Lingtian, then turned to Chen Xu and whispered, "Why doesn't he seem to be behaving badly to me? He's just had a bit too much to drink."
Chen Xu said disdainfully, "Don't you understand the incubation period? His emotional outburst earlier made me realize something was wrong. If rabies were to really develop, would I need to tell you? Didn't you see him chugging beer bottle after bottle? People with rabies are afraid of water, how could they dare to drink alcohol?"
Guan Yi also said that he probably hadn't developed symptoms yet, because if he had, none of us could have saved him. The mortality rate for rabies is 100%.
The group was whispering amongst themselves when a sudden crash of shattering glass startled them. Turning around, they saw Liu Lingtian smash a bottle, holding it by the neck with one hand while the other end shattered into jagged pieces. He yelled at Chen Xu, "Damn it, I was just looking for you!"
"Damn it! This guy's drunk!" Wang Dong shouted, stepping forward to block Chen Xu and yelling, "Liu Lingtian, you coward, put down the bottle!"
Liu Lingtian was really drunk. He already considered Chen Xu his love rival, and then Chen Xu called him a rabid dog. Finally, Guan Yi called him, and when he answered, he was surprised to find she also asked him if he had rabies!
How can anyone stand this?!
Actually, it's worth mentioning here that many people don't have enough understanding of rabies.
When people hear the name rabies, most immediately think of it as a disease transmitted through dog bites, and some also know that cats can transmit rabies. However, what many don't know is that kangaroos, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, and even bats are all susceptible to rabies.
Actually, after Chen Xu and Guan Yi asked him if he had ever been bitten by a dog, Liu Lingtian subconsciously considered that possibility. But since he had never been bitten by a dog, most people probably wouldn't care much about being bitten by a rabbit.
Now that Liu Lingtian had drunk a bit too much and was still angry, seeing Chen Xu at this moment was like an enemy meeting with eyes blazing with hatred. In his desperation, fueled by alcohol, he didn't care about anything else and actually picked up a bottle, smashed it, and was about to stab Chen Xu!
Everyone knows that beer bottles are among the "seven weapons of thugs," which naturally indicates their inherent danger. Especially broken beer bottles. Those sharp shards of glass are no less dangerous than daggers; a single stab could easily kill someone!
Wang Dong could tell at a glance that Liu Lingtian was definitely drunk, because even if an ordinary person were to take action, they wouldn't use such a dangerous thing. Anyone who dares to use such a dangerous thing must be in a state where they don't think about the consequences anymore.
Seeing Wang Dong shield him without hesitation, Chen Xu felt a surge of emotion. He thought to himself that there was a reason why Wang Dong was so influential and popular in the department. How many people these days would be so willing to go to such lengths for their brothers? Moreover, Chen Xu felt that before this, his relationship with Wang Dong was merely that of ordinary senior and junior, but after tonight…
Those are brothers!
“Boss Wang Dong, it’s alright, let me handle this.” Chen Xu pulled Guan Yi behind him and stepped forward, saying, “Liu Lingtian, I’m not here to argue with you, so don’t get so agitated.”
Wang Dong shoved Chen Xu behind him and yelled at Liu Lingtian, "You son of a bitch, put down the bottle right now, you hear me? You've had too much to drink today, you're out of control! I advise you to put down the bottle before you make a mistake! Damn it! You're not even listening to me anymore?"
Wang Dong was usually very authoritative. Liu Lingtian's hand trembled, and when he saw Guan Yi holding Chen Xu's hand behind him because of nervousness, his jealousy flared up again. He shouted, "Boss Wang Dong, this has nothing to do with you! Get out of the way, I'll have a match with him today. If I offend your boss, I'll personally apologize and drink with you tomorrow!"
"What's the point of admitting fault if something really happens?!" Wang Dong was both angry and amused. However, having experienced this kind of thing many times, he now understood that Liu Lingtian might not have just wanted to poke Chen Xu with that broken bottle; maybe he just wanted to look imposing while carrying it. The problem was that the bottle was far too dangerous, practically like a magic staff—a direct hit meant certain death, a mere graze meant serious injury. And right now, this guy's emotions were extremely unstable; something like this wasn't impossible!
Guan Yi was now extremely anxious. She felt that although she usually acted intelligently, she couldn't think of any more effective methods in this situation, especially since she couldn't step forward, otherwise she would only provoke the other party further. However, this woman was, after all, a cunning one. With a quick glance, she pulled Chen Xu aside and whispered a few words in his ear.
This action seemed very ambiguous to outsiders, especially since Liu Lingtian had been staring at them the whole time. Seeing the two of them so intimate, he was consumed by jealousy. But before he could even raise his bottle and speak, Chen Xu stepped forward first: "You rabid dog! To be honest, I think you're shameful!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Dong was stunned for a moment, then pulled Chen Xu aside and said, "Are you alright? Don't anger him now."
Chen Xu waved his hand, signaling Wang Dong to be quiet. At this moment, Guan Yi also pulled him from behind. Wang Dong had a lot of questions, but he couldn't ask them, so he could only stand aside and remain silent for the time being.
Chen Xu glanced at Liu Lingtian with disdain: "No wonder I said you have rabies, you're fucking like a mad dog! If I were a woman, I wouldn't like a coward like you!"
Liu Lingtian trembled with anger: "Who are you calling a coward? Who are you calling a mad dog?!"
"Anyone who doesn't have the guts to grab a bottle to bolster their courage is a coward and a mad dog!" Chen Xu looked at him with disdain: "If you've got the guts, come over here and fight me one-on-one. Stop whining and drowning your sorrows in alcohol. Do you think you're Yang Guo or Li Xunhuan? If you've got the guts, come on over here and settle things with your fists. Don't think you're a sophomore. I'll beat you to a pulp!"
At this point, Wang Dong and the others understood what Chen Xu meant, and they all thought to themselves, "Wow, that's brilliant!"
Liu Lingtian is only being held back because he's carrying a wine bottle. If he puts down the weapon, he'll be easy prey! A bunch of people could drown him with their spittle!
When Wang Dong turned around and saw the smile in Guan Yi's eyes, he knew it must have been that vixen's idea, and he couldn't help but shiver.
Sure enough, Liu Lingtian's face turned pale with anger after Chen Xu's series of words, and his hand holding the wine bottle trembled uncontrollably. Chen Xu pressed his advantage and said, "Come on, come on, if you're a man, come on now. If you don't come, don't ever say you're a man!"
"Come on then!" Liu Lingtian finally couldn't take the provocation anymore. He smashed the bottle on the ground with a loud crash, but the people around him breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that without the bottle, they had nothing to fear. Wang Dong and the others were ready to pounce. But Liu Lingtian took two steps, and as he passed the food stall, he saw the cleaver on the vegetable stand's cutting board. He reached out and grabbed it, cursing, "Fine! You've got guts! You've got a handle! Then you stand there and don't move. Let me cut you a few times and see what happens! If I don't break one of your claws today, I'm not your son!"
A group of people almost fainted. Wang Dong rushed forward in a panic, but at this moment Liu Lingtian took a step forward and unexpectedly stepped on a piece of watermelon rind. He leaned forward and swung his knife at Chen Xu!
This really scared everyone to death. Guan Yi even screamed. But at that moment, Chen Xu calmly dodged to the side and thrust his right elbow forward, which met Liu Lingtian's throat perfectly!
The throat is the most vulnerable part of the human body, while the elbow is the hardest! The impact caused Liu Lingtian so much pain that he dropped his knife with a clang, and immediately lost his balance. Chen Xu followed up, delivering a powerful punch to Liu Lingtian's stomach with his left hand. These two movements were lightning fast; after a blur, onlookers found Liu Lingtian lying on the ground, vomiting beer profusely…
Chapter 40 Terminal Illness
Chen Xu and the others hurriedly hailed a taxi and took Liu Lingtian to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor saw that Liu Lingtian reeked of alcohol and kept vomiting. He initially thought he had alcohol poisoning and was about to put him in for a gastric lavage, but Chen Xu stopped him.
It was already past nine o'clock at night, and the hospital was basically closed. The doctor on duty who remained was an acquaintance of Chen Xu's... He had met Chen Xu twice before, the first time when he brought Wu Zhonglai, and the second time when he brought Wu Yuanlai; this young doctor was present on both occasions.