Open a Clinic to Cultivate Myself Chapter 283 Power Greatly Boosted

A Rolls Royce stopped before Hakka Alley in Guan City. A muscular bodyguard resembling King Kong alighted the car. He opened a car door.

Joanna emerged from the car, walking in the direction of the alley. Her bodyguard wanted to follow her, but she waved him away instead. He remained at the alley entrance.

Ning Tao did not tell her his house number, nor did she know where he stayed. She just kept on looking uncertainly, hoping that familiar face would appear before her.

She had only walked a short distance when a house door suddenly opened. She saw a dark figure. The lights in the house were turned off but she had a familiar feeling.

“Come in.” The voice was also very familiar.

Joanna did not feel the least bit of hesitation or wariness. She immediately entered the house.

Ning Tao shut the house door and turned on the lights. He looked at Joanna with a smile. “Sorry for all the trouble.”

Joanna replied with a smile. “Why are you still so polite to me?”

Ning Tao smiled. Although they had said this, he still felt that he must be polite when he ought to. This was something he had learned in his four years working part-time in college.

Joanna showed a surprised expression. “Tao, I brought you what you want. But I feel that we are like spies. Am I really one?” As she spoke, she opened her bag and handed Ning Tao an envelope.

Ning Tao smiled. “If I asked you to be a spy, would you be one?”

Joanna thought for a while before asking, “Would you protect me?”

Ning Tao answered, “That goes without saying. No matter what happens, I will always be on your side.”

Joanna gave another smile. “Then I would do it. I like taking risks. My favorite movie character is James Bond.”

Ning Tao smiled. “If that is the case, then please do me another favor.”

“What would you have me do?”

Ning Tao took out an ordinary prescription booklet with pictures of blood locks from his small medicine chest. He handed the booklet to Joanna. “When you return to the US, please stick a prescription with this pattern in your house. In the future, whenever you visit other cities, like in Europe or even further places, please paste this prescription at a desolate spot under a shelter.”

Joanna closely studied the prescriptions. She did not know these lock designs were drawn using Ning Tao's blood. She asked curiously, “Tao, what you asked me to do is so puzzling. Why must I do this?”

Ning Tao smiled. “I will explain to you the next time. You'd better go back first. It's not safe here. I also have to urgently process the file you gave me.”

Joanna said, “Even if you had wanted me to stay, I must go. My flight to New York is tonight. Remember your promise to me. If that friend of mine wants you to treat her, will you come?”

Ning Tao answered, “If you paste these prescriptions in the right places, I will.”

“Okay, deal.” Joanna gave Ning Tao a hug, opened the door and left.

Her departure meant that the convenient door of Sky Clinic would lead to Europe and the US.

Ning Tao did not see her off. He was considered “dead” in these few days. But he wasn't certain whether Bai Sheng would believe he was dead. There would never be a perfect plan in this world. His dead body, as well as Bai Jing and Qing Zhui's, were loopholes he could not hide. But these loopholes would pose a problem for Bai Sheng too, since the latter could not come to Sky Clinic to examine the bodies.

Ning Tao went over the documents and the related information in the envelope. Then he put them back into the envelope, intending to pass them to Tang Zixian the next morning. After that, he went into his room and unlocked the blood lock, stepping into Sky Clinic.

If everything went according to plan, their showdown with Bai Sheng would take place tomorrow. He would need to do some preparatory work before the battle.

He took out 20 Mauser pistol bullets. Then he refined them with spiritual materials.

He had always used ordinary bullets, and had never tried bullets refined using spiritual materials. This time, he would test out these refined bullets on Bai Sheng.

The 20 bullets were refined and one-third of the spiritual materials in the box from Cold River Temple were gone. He could not bear to use them. But when the alchemy fire died away and he took out these bullets from the delicate perfumed tripod, he felt much better.

Each refined bullet bore a black-and-white pattern. But these patterns were not fixed but flowing on the bullets. They carried in them the latent power of spiritual materials, and also his special spiritual power. An ordinary bullet was as powerful as a bomb. How much more powerful would these refined bullets be?

Ning Tao had initially wanted to refine the Whisperer, break it apart and re-refine it. But after refining these patterned bullets, he was eager to try out their power with the refined Mauser pistol. Then he remembered a woman. The place she was staying would be a good place for the test.

A few minutes later, Ning Tao appeared below a cliff near Cloud-lying Village, at Shennongjia.

The forest was completely quiet. Cloud-lying Village in the near distance was enveloped by the dusk. Only a few households had their lights on.

Ning Tao was in no hurry to try the bullets. He bypassed the cliff and came to a more desolate spot. He took out his refined Mauser pistol and aimed at a large tree, 100 meters away.

Pfft!

A curious noise resounded. A bullet flew out from the muzzle of the Mauser pistol. In the air, one could just about make out a fuzzy, intermingling black-and-white trail. An instant later, the tree with a girth as large as two men's outstretched arms immediately broke and collapsed to the ground.

There was no sound of an explosion.

Ning Tao stared at it dumbfounded. He did not recover for a long time.

It was the same pistol. Ordinary bullets from the Mauser pistol used to trigger a violent explosion, but there was no such explosion when firing a refined bullet. Even the noise when pulling the trigger was slight, almost as if one were not firing a pistol but striking a match.

Given such a circumstance, one need not mount a silencer.

Ning Tao ran over. That large tree had been shattered where it had been hit. There was a cavity as large as a football there. The spiraling, screw-like pattern could be seen in the entire bullet cavity. The spiraling energy had destroyed the entire structure around the hole and, together with the massive force, had caused the tree to collapse.

If it was firing an ordinary bullet, the refined Mauser pistol would not be able to break this trunk with the circumference of two men's outstretched arms. It certainly would not have destroyed its structure through its spiraling power. If Ning Tao had aimed at a tank, that shot would have resulted in a hole as large as a ball, like an armor-penetrating missile!

It was clear that the refined bullet had boosted the power of the Mauser pistol several times!

But although its power was boosted, it took so many spiritual materials to refine one. If he kept on refining and using them, he would end up a bankrupt.

Ning Tao kept his refined Mauser pistol and arrived at Cloud-lying Village.

The light in one of Jian Mi's rooms was still on— the kitchen.

Ning Tao walked over and overheard Jian Mi and Auntie Jiang's conversation.

“Jian Mi, tell mom honestly, are you in love with that foreign woman?” It was Auntie Jiang's voice.

“Mom, what do you mean? I don't understand,” came Jian Mi's voice.

Auntie Jiang snorted. “Don't pretend. If you aren't in love with her, why would you bring her home and let her sleep in your room? And you're sleeping in the firewood shed!”

“Mom, will you please stop making wild guesses? That woman was here because of Brother Ning. He asked me to take care of her.” This was Jian Mi's voice.

“Don't lie to me. Did you sneak back into your room every night to sleep with that woman?”

“Mom…” One could hear Jian Mi's headache in his voice.

“You haven't slept with her?”

“No!”

“You're silly, aren't you? We feed her and house her, and she's even sleeping on your bed. You're a silly lad if you don't sleep with her. Are you trying to make me angry? Tell me, when will a boy like you bring back a daughter-in-law? Although that foreign woman's a bit old, I still think she can…”

Ning Tao could stand it no longer. He appeared at the kitchen entrance, saying with a smile, “Auntie Jiang and Jian Mi, why aren't you two in bed? It's already so late in the night.”

Auntie Jiang immediately wiped her hands and advanced forward to welcome him. Her face was wreathed in smiles. “I'm getting Jian Mi to start a fire. I'm cooking something for the pigs so as to feed them tomorrow morning.”

Ning Tao took from his small medicine chest a wad of money and handed it to Jian Mi. “Take this. It's your wages for this month.”

“How could you?” Jian Mi immediately stuffed the money back into Ning Tao's hands hurriedly.

Ning Tao came out of the kitchen. “You're an employee of Shenzhou Charity Company. If you don't accept this, I won't have anything more for you to do. Accept it now, or I won't come in the future.”

Auntie Jiang's eyes were full of doting affection. “What a silly lad. If he asks you to accept it, then do. I will save the money for your future wedding.”

Jian Mi took the money and gave a bashful smile.

“I'm going to see that friend of mine. You two carry on,” Ning Tao said.

While they were talking, the door to Jian Mi's room opened. Maria came out and walked with quick steps to Ning Tao when she saw him. She said to him in English, “Mr. Ning, are you here for a casual visit?”

Ning Tao replied in English, “It will take a few days more. You have to stay here temporarily. After I settle everything, I will take you away.”

Maria said, “Alright. This place isn't too bad. I like it. There's no problem in me waiting a few days more.”

Ning Tao said, “I've read the letter left behind by your husband. He wants me to take you to a place. But you alone know where that place is. Can you tell me where it is exactly?”

“That place is…” Maria hesitated for a moment before saying, “That place is in Italy. When you take me to Italy, I will show you that place.”

Ning Tao watched her and tried to probe. “What else do you know?”

But Maria said nothing more.

Ning Tao said, “Alright then, I will take you to Italy. Then you will take me to that place you alone know.”

Maria nodded, seemingly worried that Ning Tao would go on asking. She went back into Jian Mi's room and shut the door.

Ning Tao chatted for a while with Jian Mi and Auntie Jiang. Then he found an excuse to leave. He returned to Sky Clinic.

All his bets were staked on Bai Sheng's death.

Chapter end