Video Editor

Suning pulled the roller shutter down most of the way, leaving only a narrow gap for ventilation.

The evening glow shines through the gaps, casting a unique light on the glass counter in the shop.

However, the Indian God Oil box in the cabinet was already dull and lifeless, after all, only the brave dared to buy such medicine.

His phone was set aside, and cigarette butts piled up like a small mountain in the ashtray. He really had no confidence in these generic drugs.

Keep in mind that a movie is just a movie, and coupled with my disdain for Indians, I really have no confidence that I won't be fooled this time.

Su Ning doesn't know what kind of person she used to be, but now she's really pathetic and insecure.

It wasn't until the evening of the third day that Suning's phone finally responded.

Suning almost reflexively picked up his phone and turned on the screen. Sure enough, it was a text message from Liu Sihui: "The effect is very good."

There were no extra words, yet his tense shoulders and back instantly slumped, and the sweat stains on his back left dark marks on his T-shirt.

But before he could catch his breath, a second text message arrived, this time from Lü Shouyi.

These words vividly express Lü Shouyi's excitement and elation: "Boss Su! The medicine is amazing! It's exactly the same as the one I had someone bring back from India! I checked my blood count this morning, and my platelet and white blood cell counts are both going up! Old Zhou and the other two tried it, and they all said they felt their strength return and their coughs have lessened! This isn't just medicine, it's a lifesaver!"

Suning stared at the words "help" for a moment, genuinely surprised by such sentiment.

So he first replied to Liu Sihui: "Proceed with the plan, proceed cautiously! For your daughter's sake, nothing can happen to her."

Then he added a longer note to Lü Shouyi: "That's good. Be sure to be careful during the screening process. Find trustworthy patients who live far apart from each other and absolutely avoid clustering. Safety first; if anything goes wrong, we have to stop."

When the notification popped up that the message had been successfully sent, he got up and walked to the freezer, took out a bottle of iced cola, and felt the coolness of the can seep into his palm, which finally calmed the heat in his heart.

As soon as the icy, juicy Happy Fat Boy Water entered his mouth, every pore on Suning's body relaxed.

He recalled the nearly two thousand boxes of Gleevec neatly stacked in the system space, as if a spark had been planted within him.

What we need to do now is let this fire burn slowly.

It should neither be extinguished nor burned too brightly, lest it attract unwanted people.

……

Liu Sihui and Lü Shouyi acted even faster than Suning had anticipated.

When Liu Sihui sent a message in the patient's QQ group, she couldn't help but feel excited.

"We currently have a limited supply of Gleevec from India, priced as before. Quantities are extremely limited and only available to those urgently needing the medication. Please contact us privately to register; arrangements will be made in batches, and details will be announced later. No inquiries accepted; if you don't believe us, please don't contact us."

The moment she pressed send, she threw her phone on the sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.

She didn't know what the consequences would be, but when she thought of that damned disease, she couldn't care less about anything else.

Less than three minutes later, the phone started vibrating wildly, making Liu Sihui's heart race.

By the time she picked up her phone, dozens of messages had already piled up in her private chat window.

"Sister Liu, is it really Indian medicine? My husband has been without his medication for three days, and he won't be able to hold on if he doesn't take it soon!"

"Sihui, can I reserve it first? I can raise the money by tomorrow, please!"

"Is this a scam? Someone posted something similar before, and they blocked me after taking the money..."

Liu Sihui ignored the doubters and didn't rush to respond to their pleas. Instead, she called Lü Shouyi to her home, and the two of them spent the whole night sifting through the names on the list.

“Uncle Zhang has to be included. His son sold his wedding house last year to buy medicine for him. Now he lives in a rented room. He’s a reliable person and keeps his mouth shut,” Lu Shouyi said, pointing to the name on the screen, his voice hoarse.

Liu Sihui nodded, then crossed out another one: "Sister Li won't do. She's too impatient. Last time someone in the group said the medicine was expensive, and she argued about it for half the night. I'm afraid she won't keep her mouth shut."

"There's also Xiao Wang, 23 years old, who was diagnosed just six months ago. His parents are farmers who have worked so hard to save money that their hair has turned white. He lives in the suburbs, far from the city, so he doesn't hang out with other people."

"Yes, and..."

The two had very clear selection criteria: first, the family must be truly destitute and on the verge of running out of medicine; second, the person must be calm and composed and not showy; and third, the person must live in a scattered location, preferably in the suburbs or remote areas, to avoid running into acquaintances during the transaction.

After screening until 4 a.m., the first batch of five people was finally selected. Liu Sihui sent messages to each of them, her tone so serious it was as if she were giving her last words: "The time and place of the transaction will be announced later. You can only come by yourself. Bring cash, exchange the medicine and leave. Don't ask where it came from, and don't tell anyone. If you violate any of these rules, I will never give you medicine again."

Fortunately, no one refused, otherwise Liu Sihui really wouldn't have been able to "make an example of someone."

Even though Liu Sihui and Lü Shouyi's demands were so harsh as to be inhumane, the patients' replies were filled with cautious gratitude: "I understand, I will definitely follow the rules!"

"Don't worry, Sister Liu, I won't even tell my wife!"

"Anytime is fine with me, even if it means going to the riverbank at dawn!"

As Liu Sihui looked at the replies, her eyes suddenly reddened; she understood these people's feelings all too well.

She recalled how, when her daughter was undergoing chemotherapy, she had spent the entire night squatting in the hospital corridor, clutching a bank card with no savings in her hand.

That despair washed over her like a tide, and now these people are exactly like she was back then.

Her husband was scared away by their daughter's illness, leaving her and their poor daughter to depend on each other for survival.

……

The first transaction was scheduled for a rainy night.

Lu Shouyi arrived at the abandoned orchard on the outskirts of Pudong half an hour early, with the brim of his raincoat pulled low and a black plastic bag clutched in his hand.

The rain was fine and drizzling, pattering on the leaves. The roof of the guardhouse in the orchard had broken, and the wind was blowing in with the rainwater.

He walked around the shed three times to make sure there were no suspicious vehicles or people around before taking out his phone and sending a message to Su Ning: "Safe."

Su Ning was sitting in a van about 100 meters away. The windows were tinted dark, so no one could see inside from the outside.

He took out binoculars from the passenger-side storage compartment, pointed the lens at the guard shed, and only activated the system's "deposit and follow" function after seeing Lü Shouyi enter the shed...

The five boxes of medicine in the system space appeared silently under the old fertilizer bag in the corner of the shed, as if they had always been there.

Suning put down his binoculars, his fingers gripping the steering wheel, ready to leave quickly at any moment.

The windshield wipers swung back and forth, clearing the rain from the windows, but they couldn't clear away the tension in his heart.

He stared intently at his watch; the second hand ticked away, each second feeling like a minute.

At 7:00 sharp, the first person to make a transaction arrived.

It was Uncle Zhang, a fellow patient who arrived on a motorcycle. His raincoat was covered in mud, and there was a bulging black cloth bag in the basket of his motorcycle.

He stopped outside the shed, looked around, and then bent down and crawled inside.

Less than ten seconds later, he came out, clutching a small box in his hand. He carefully tucked it into his pocket, got on his motorcycle, and quickly disappeared into the rain.

Next was Xiao Wang, who arrived by taxi. He was still looking at his phone when he got out of the car, and only after confirming that the address was correct did he quickly walk into the shed.

Then came Uncle Li, who lives in the suburbs. He drove there, his car windows also tinted, and he parked on the side of the road.

After getting out of the car, he carefully left the door unlocked, quickly went into the shed, and came out with something in his hand. He quickly got back into the car, and the taillights soon disappeared into the night.

Five people, fifteen minutes apart, each transaction was as fast as lightning. Lü Shouyi took the medicine from the shed, hid in the shadows, waited for the other party to arrive, verified the code "Introduced by Lao Zhou", took the cash, handed over the medicine, the whole process took no more than thirty seconds, and he didn't even say a word.

He stuffed the cash into another plastic bag and hid it in a tree hole outside the shed.

That was the location he and Su Ning chose during their advance scouting trip; it was secluded and only the two of them knew about it.

An hour later, the rain subsided a bit.

After confirming with binoculars that no one was around, Su Ning got out of the car, opened his umbrella, and quickly walked to the tree hole to take out the plastic bag containing the cash.

The cash was wet, cool from the rain. He touched it; it was a thick wad of cash. But he felt nothing; all he could think about was getting out of there as soon as possible.

Back in the car, he put the cash in the passenger seat, started the engine, and slowly drove out of the orchard.

In the rearview mirror, the abandoned guardhouse receded into the distance, eventually disappearing into the rain.

He breathed a sigh of relief; his back was soaked with sweat, which mixed with the rainwater on his raincoat, making it feel cool and sticky.

……

After the first transaction was successful, subsequent transactions were like pressing the copy button.

They tried countless locations: a corner of an abandoned parking lot in the western district, piled high with discarded tires, where no one went at night; the end of a dead-end road in the northern suburbs, with farmland on both sides, where only the occasional tractor passed by; in the shadows of a dock warehouse at dawn, before the workers had started work, with only the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

There are now two more "transit passengers"...

They were patients selected earlier. One was a retired police officer with a strong sense of counter-surveillance; the other was a truck driver who was familiar with the routes in various suburbs.

They took turns being responsible for picking up the medicine, making the transaction, and hiding the money. Before each transaction, they would scout out the location in advance and only notify Suning after confirming that it was safe.

The reputation of the drug quickly spread like wildfire among patients.

At first, only a select few people talked about it in a small circle, but later more and more people found out and privately pleaded with Liu Sihui and Lü Shouyi for leniency.

"Sister Liu, I heard that Uncle Zhang's condition has stabilized after taking his medicine. Please give me a chance too! My mother has started coughing up blood..."

"Brother Lü, I know the rules are strict, I promise I won't tell anyone! I've prepared the money, I'm just waiting for your message!"

"I heard that the medicine is exactly the same as the imported one, only much cheaper. Please, please save my husband..."

Liu Sihui and Lü Shouyi are under increasing pressure.

The list of candidates for selection is getting longer and longer. Each selection is like making a multiple-choice question. Choosing this means giving up that, and the one you give up may never have another chance.

On one occasion, Lü Shouyi saw a familiar name during the screening process.

It turned out to be his former fellow patient from when he was hospitalized. The two had even played chess together in the ward. Later, the fellow patient ran out of medication and I heard that he had returned to his hometown.

He hesitated for a long time, but still added his name.

At this time, Suning remained firmly behind the scenes.

He rarely showed himself in public, spending most of his time in the aphrodisiac shop, staring at the boxes of aphrodisiacs on the counter, like an ordinary, simple-minded shopkeeper.

Only during a transaction would someone drive to a designated location, collect the cash, and then return to the store, where the cash would magically be transferred directly to their system account.

The numbers in his system account kept increasing, but he didn't touch a single penny.

He knew the money wasn't his; it was for the next batch of medicine, for saving more lives.

He even hung a "For Sale" sign outside the shop, not because he really wanted to sell, but to avoid attracting attention...

If anyone asks, he says business is bad and he wants to sell, so as not to arouse suspicion that he stays in the shop every day but has no business.

Once, a regular customer came to buy aphrodisiac oil. Seeing how deserted the shop was, he couldn't help but ask, "Boss Su, your shop is doing so badly, why aren't you open yet?"

Su Ning smiled, picked up a cigarette from the counter, and handed one over: "No rush, take your time, there's nothing else to do anyway."

The regular customer took the cigarette, lit it, and took a puff: "Yeah, business's tough these days. By the way, I heard someone's been selling Indian Gleevec cheaply lately, I wonder if it's real..."

Su Ning's heart skipped a beat, but her face remained expressionless: "Never heard of it, it's probably a scam. You should buy this kind of medicine at the hospital, don't worry."

"You often go to India to buy goods, haven't you ever thought about bringing some back to sell?"

“I sell health products! I don’t do anything illegal, and besides, there’s no need to take the risk for that little bit of money.”

"That's true." The regular customer nodded, didn't ask any more questions, bought a bottle of the "miracle oil," and left.

Su Ning watched his retreating figure until he disappeared around the street corner before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

He picked up his phone and sent Liu Sihui a message: "Be careful lately, someone has started asking about the medicine."

Liu Sihui quickly replied: "I know, I've already spoken to Brother Lü and asked him to remind everyone not to talk about it outside."

Suning put down his phone, went outside, and looked at the street.

As the sun sets, the streets are bustling with people.

But no one knew that on this ordinary street, there was an inconspicuous aphrodisiac shop, and the owner was doing something thrilling...

Like a ghostly "medicine god," he used his own methods to offer a lifeline to those struggling on the brink of death.

Every transaction is like dancing on a knife's edge.

But each success means that one more person may survive.

Su Ning recalled the light in Uncle Zhang's eyes when he received the medicine during their first transaction.

The phone screen lit up with a message from Lü Shouyi: "The next batch of transactions is scheduled for 3 a.m. tomorrow at an abandoned factory in the eastern suburbs. The people have already been selected."

Suning replied: "Okay, I understand. Be careful."

He placed his phone on the counter, looked at the messages on the screen, and felt as calm as still water.

He knew the road ahead was long and dangerous, but he couldn't stop.

Because in places he couldn't see, countless eyes were waiting for him, waiting for that box of life-saving medicine.

In the dead of night, the aphrodisiac shop was quiet, with only the table lamp on the counter lit.

The streets outside gradually quieted down, with only the occasional sound of passing cars and bicycle bells.

At first, Suning was somewhat blinded by the system's manipulation, but now he understands its meaning and sentiment.

Suning is just a simple, honest guy; his thinking isn't that complicated yet.

Seeing the possibility of bringing life to others naturally makes one feel particularly excited and proud.

"This kind of fantasy time travel feels pretty good."

...(End of chapter)