Start with push-ups to gain experience

Chapter 463 The best way to break the curse is to eliminate the opponent.

The VIP ward area on the top floor of the hospital has always been known for its privacy and quietness.

The corridor was covered with thick carpets, enough to absorb any noise.

But at this moment, it was unusually noisy.

Nurses pushed equipment carts quickly through the room, the carts filled with syringes, medicine bottles, and monitors, busily delivering medicine and changing IV drips to various wards.

The doors to the wards were opened from time to time, and doctors went in and out with solemn expressions, talking in hushed tones.

Suppressed groans, painful cries, and anxious inquiries from family members mingled together, filling the entire floor with an atmosphere of panic.

As soon as Fang Cheng, Bai Ling, and Pan Wendi stepped out of the elevator, Lin Chuqiao immediately came to greet them.

"You are finally back."

Her voice carried a hint of relief, and the tense expression on her face relaxed a little.

"what's the situation?"

Fang Cheng's gaze swept over the chaotic scene before him, and he asked in a deep voice:

"Who in the Chen family has gotten into trouble?"

"It wasn't just one person who got into trouble; it was many people."

Lin Chuqiao turned her head to look at the rows of lit wards on both sides of the corridor.

Fang Cheng was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and followed her gaze.

Through the glass window in the door, you can vaguely see the scene inside.

Some patients lay in bed, seemingly in a daze, but their brows were furrowed and their faces were full of pain.

His bare arms and calves were covered with tiny red dots, as if he had been pricked with needles.

Some patients sat on the edge of the bed with IV drips attached to their bodies, occasionally letting out a muffled groan.

Despite the intense pain, I dared not change to a more comfortable position to lie down.

Suddenly, heart-wrenching cries came from a ward on the left.

A seven- or eight-year-old boy suddenly sat up in bed, as if he had a nightmare, crying and shouting:

"It hurts! It hurts! Mommy, I don't want to sleep in bed, something is stabbing me!"

A dignified and elegant woman was by the bedside, her eyes red-rimmed, gently comforting the child over and over again.

Upon hearing the noise, the nurse immediately rushed in and skillfully injected the boy with a sedative.

Chen Xu'an was also in the ward.

He stood by the bed, one hand on the boy's shoulder, gently comforting him, his eyes filled with barely concealed anxiety.

His other hand, hanging by his side, was clenched into a fist, and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging.

From the way the woman addressed Chen Xu'an, it can be inferred that the boy was the son of Chen Qirong, the eldest son of the Chen family, and thus his nephew.

Fang Cheng frowned slightly, withdrew his gaze from the ward, and looked at Lin Chuqiao:

"Were these people also affected by the acupuncture curse?"

Lin Chuqiao nodded:
"Not long after you left, the Chen family members who were waiting outside the old lady's ward began to show symptoms one after another. First, they complained of pain all over their bodies, and then they fell to the ground."

"The symptoms were very similar to those of the old lady, although not as severe, but the doctors were still helpless after a long examination."

"They even suspect it's a rare, genetically linked, familial infectious disease and are discussing whether to report it to the CDC."

Lin Chuqiao paused, then added:
“Those collateral relatives were afraid of being implicated, so they all made excuses to leave. Even Chen Qiming was the first to run away when he saw that things were not going well.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Ling's face paled slightly, and she suddenly thought of a possibility:
"Then...we ate the Chen family's food and drank their water last night, could we have been cursed too...?"

"It's very possible!"

Pan Wendi leaned closer, deliberately lowered his voice, and said in a sarcastic tone:
"The documentary I watched last night said that some sorcerers would mix corpse oil with insect eggs and secretly put it into food."

"The worm burrows into your stomach, and you don't feel anything until it attacks, then it will eat away at your internal organs from the inside out..."

"Wendy!"

Lin Chuqiao glared at him fiercely.

Pan Wendi immediately shrugged, made a "shut up" gesture, and tactfully stepped aside.

“Needle spells are different from ordinary poison spells or Gu spells.”

Seeing that Bai Ling's face was deathly pale and her lips were trembling, Lin Chuqiao softened her tone and explained:

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Needle curses are different from ordinary poison curses or Gu curses. In order to avoid being detected, the practitioner has to deliver the materials of the 'curse needle' into the victim's body through food and drink over a long period of time in small doses. It takes time for it to take effect."

"Even if there was something wrong with what we ate last night, that amount was metabolized long ago by us ability users, and it wouldn't have any harmful effect at all."

She paused, her gaze slowly sweeping across the ward:
"The Chen family members have obviously lived in that kind of environment for a long time, and have unknowingly accumulated a dose, which is why they collectively broke out in symptoms."

Upon hearing this, Bai Ling breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest.

Lin Chuqiao turned to look at Fang Cheng, who seemed to be deep in thought, and continued:

"So far, a total of nine people have fallen ill. I have just verified their identities, and they are all direct descendants who just came out of the Chen family's secret realm."

"The killer clearly saw this opportunity before attacking them."

Upon hearing this, Fang Cheng's eyes flashed:
"The killer previously targeted individual individuals, but now he's suddenly launching a large-scale operation. What is his purpose?"

"I suspect he likely learned of our plans for a formal operation tomorrow, sensed the threat, and thus acted preemptively to weaken the Chen family's strength, depriving us of support."

Lin Chuqiao stared intently at Chen Xu'an in the ward before revealing her speculation.

"This guy is too ruthless!"

Pan Wendi couldn't help but interject again:

"What's the point of becoming the head of the family if you poison your own compatriots and relatives, causing chaos and harming so many people? You'll end up with a mess to clean up."

"Because the spell needs to be cast on multiple people at the same time, the power is dispersed, so the damage that the curse can cause to each person is limited."

Lin Chuqiao explained while observing the scene in the ward:

“You see, although the Chen family members are in great pain, they are not in mortal danger. The murderer’s purpose may just be to restrict their ability to move.”

"No, you've overlooked a crucial point."

Fang Cheng pondered for a long time, then suddenly spoke:
“If the murderer is Chen Xu’an, he is now the de facto head of the Chen family. The only person who could restrain him, the matriarch, is now in the hospital.”

"Given Chen Xu'an's current status, he could easily mobilize all the resources of the Chen family to deal with us outside investigators."

Fang Cheng paused, his gaze sweeping over the three of them, and then analyzed further:
"Even if things are exposed tomorrow and the secret is revealed, he has plenty of ways to frame others."

"After all, the Chen family members now obey his orders, and they are more willing to believe what he says than outsiders like us."

"But he did the opposite and ended up getting all his helpers hospitalized."

Fang Cheng stroked his chin, his tone full of doubt.

"This operation doesn't make any logical sense at all..."

"Yup!"

The lark realized what was happening, and her eyes lit up instantly:
"I remember he said before that he would send experts from the Chen family to cooperate with our operation. Isn't doing this like cutting off our own arm?"

Chen Xu'an, who was once the prime suspect, seemed to have been exonerated in her mind.

"I've been thinking about this issue myself."

Lin Chuqiao rubbed her temples and gently bit her lip:

"Chen Xu'an's current actions cannot be explained by common sense, unless... he has completely gone mad."

"crazy?"

Looking at the gentle and refined man in the ward, comforting his nephew, Bailing couldn't reconcile him with the image of a "madman." The four of them fell silent for a short while.

No matter how they speculate, they can't avoid one core question.

If Chen Xu'an is indeed the murderer, then his behavior is full of contradictions.

The sounds of crying and talking still drifted into my ears from the ward, making the surrounding air seem even heavier.

"Let's not talk about this yet."

Lin Chuqiao shook her head, temporarily setting aside her doubts, and turned her gaze to Fang Cheng:
"What clues did you find when you returned to the Chen family manor?"

Fang Cheng collected his thoughts and then gave a general account of the mysterious building where corpses were hidden, the coffins and memorial tablets piled up inside, and the eerie statues and old man's corpse in the basement.

Lin Chuqiao frowned upon hearing this:

"As far as I know, although aristocratic families value returning to their roots, they would never keep the remains of their ancestors in their residences for an extended period of time."

"After a family member dies, they are usually buried in the inheritance secret realm. Their bones and souls become part of the secret realm, which in turn nourishes the bloodline of the entire family."

"The way the Chen family does things is indeed very strange and abnormal."

Fang Cheng nodded slightly as he listened to Lin Chuqiao's analysis.

The reason he came back to discuss this with Lin Chuqiao was because he valued her extensive knowledge and understanding of the secrets of these aristocratic families.

Subsequently, Fang Cheng also shared his guess:
"I suspect that Crow and the professor's purpose in coming to Tiannan Province is related to some unspeakable secret of the Chen family."

"The Chen family's secret?"

Lin Chuqiao pondered these words, her mind rapidly searching for various records about the inheritance of aristocratic families.

"Perhaps the Chen family's secret realm is special? Or... that corpse-hiding building is a specially built entrance to the secret realm?"

Even so, she herself was not confident, her brows were always furrowed, clearly she had been thinking hard for a long time but could not come to a definite conclusion.

Fang Cheng's eyes flickered as he pondered to himself.

I always felt that the secrets hidden by the Chen family were more than just the "special nature of the secret realm".

The key to solving the mystery probably lies in the strange statue in the basement and the mysterious old man's corpse.

Just then, the door to the ward not far away was gently pulled open a crack from the inside.

Chen Xu'an was talking to the doctor inside, and it looked like he would be coming out soon.

Fang Cheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and a plan quickly took shape in his mind.

“I’m going to confront Chen Xu’an right now and see how he responds.”

After saying that, he took a step and walked towards the ward.

"what?"

Lin Chuqiao was startled by his words and instinctively reached out to grab his arm.
"Fang Cheng, wait..."

Her meaning was obvious.

This is Chen's territory. It would be very risky to break ties with them without any preparation.

What if Chen Xu'an really is the mastermind, and he has some trump card he hasn't revealed yet?

They might find themselves in a passive position on the spot, or even trapped in Tiannan Province, unable to escape.

Pan Wendi immediately chimed in:
"Isn't this too hasty? What if the negotiations fall apart? We haven't even found a way out yet."

Bai Ling gripped the hem of her clothes tightly and added in a low voice:
"Yeah, boss, there might be some hidden expert around Chen Xu'an. Should we think about this carefully..."

Fang Cheng turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the two of them before landing on Lin Chuqiao's beautiful eyes, which were filled with worry. He smiled slightly and asked in return:
"Don't you believe me?"

These words were spoken again, not loudly, but with a power to calm people's hearts.

Lin Chuqiao stared into his calm and bright eyes for a few seconds, then slowly released her grip on his arm.

The worry in her eyes quickly faded, eventually turning into a gentle smile on her lips.

The smile was faint, but it conveyed complete trust, as if saying, "Since you've made your decision, I'll go with you."

Fang Cheng straightened his expression, then turned to his three companions and stated his reasons in a deep voice:
"Haven't you heard the saying? The best way to break a curse is to find the person who cast it and take care of them..."

As they were speaking, the ward door creaked open and was pulled open completely.

Chen Xu'an walked out looking exhausted, raised his hand to rub his temples, and casually glanced across the corridor, but stopped when he caught sight of Fang Cheng and the others.

Clearly, he hadn't expected the men to still be there.

Fang Cheng met his gaze without flinching, a hint of sharpness hidden in his eyes.

He had originally planned to wait until tomorrow to take action, but the other party's continuous attacks and relentless pressure made him realize that he could not wait any longer.

The longer the delay, the more fully the enemy can prepare.

Fang Cheng knew very well what was going on.

I am neither Sherlock Holmes nor have any interest in playing cat-and-mouse games with a mouse hiding in the shadows, shrouded in mystery.

The current situation is complex and difficult to discern the truth from the falsehood.

My uncle has been missing for many days, and his fate is unknown. Every minute wasted increases the danger.

Instead of passively guessing and analyzing here, being led by the nose by our opponents, we might as well just overturn this table!
Use the simplest and most violent method to confront all hidden enemies.

Let's see who has the stronger hand and who has the bigger fist.

Then decide who will take control of this game!

Fang Cheng met Chen Xu'an's questioning gaze, stepped forward, and said loudly:

"Young Master Chen, our team's reinforcements have arrived, and we have just scouted out the place where the murderer is hiding."

His voice echoed clearly in the corridor.

The remaining relatives of the Chen family who had not yet left turned their gazes toward Fang Cheng, this "outsider," upon hearing this, their faces showing either astonishment or confusion.

Chen Xu'an's pupils contracted slightly as he stared intently at Fang Cheng, seemingly trying to discern the truth or falsehood of his words from his expression.

"What did you say?"

He subconsciously pressed for more information, his voice even trembling slightly.

Fang Cheng did not answer, but simply met his gaze calmly.

Chen Xu'an quickly glanced at the probing gazes around him and immediately realized that this was not the place to talk.

He acted decisively, taking a few steps forward. As he passed Fang Cheng, he whispered:

"The three of you, please follow me."

Fang Cheng did not refuse, and gave Lin Chuqiao and Bailing a wink, signaling them to follow behind.

The two understood each other and walked with Fang Cheng and Chen Xu'an to a deserted lounge not far away.

Pan Wendi scratched his head and quickly followed.

According to Fang Cheng, he seemed to be the "reinforcements".

"boom!"

The door was slammed shut and locked.

Inside the lounge, Chen Xu'an let go of her hand and paced back and forth a couple of times, seemingly trying to calm his excited emotions.

He whirled around, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Fang Cheng, and asked in a low voice, enunciating each word clearly:

"Where did you all go just now?!"

(End of this chapter)