28: You can’t calculate it this way!

He was their son.

This loyalty, bordering on foolishness, was something they had personally taught him.

What more could they say?

Finally, Zhao's father slumped his head in defeat and waved his hand.

"Go."

Zhao's mother's tears burst forth again. Unable to say anything, she just turned and rushed into the room, haphazardly packing her son's luggage, as if he wasn't going to his death, but to a distant university.

After a brief and painful farewell, Zhao Tianyang left home.

He didn't look back.

He was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to move his legs… The Black Market, "Junkyard".

In the noisy, chaotic alleyways, Zhao Tianyang, wearing an ill-fitting old coat, walked with his head down, struggling to move through the crowd.

Every breath he took pulled at his internal organs, bringing waves of dull pain.

He felt his life slowly ebbing away with each step.

He didn't know where Lin Yu was.

Lin Yu had only said that when he needed him, he would find him.

But he couldn't wait.

He only had one clumsy method.

"Ding-a-ling—"

The wind chime at the entrance of Old Ghost Hall rang out clearly.

The Old Ghost, who was dozing behind the counter, was startled awake. He impatiently lifted his head, wanting to see which thoughtless person had disturbed his sweet dream.

Then, he saw Zhao Tianyang.

"You, kid?" The Old Ghost was stunned for a moment, then frowned, "Why are you back again? Your complexion looks even worse than last time. Did the medicine not work?"

Zhao Tianyang leaned against the doorframe, gasping for a few breaths.

"Old Ghost… I'm looking for someone."

"Looking for someone?" The Old Ghost scrutinized him from head to toe, "Who are you looking for? This is a pharmacy, not a missing persons agency."

"Looking for…" Zhao Tianyang described the characteristic, "The one who… bought the Life Serum that day."

The Old Ghost's movements stopped.

He took off his bird-beak mask, revealing a shrewd face, and carefully looked at Zhao Tianyang.

"What do you want him for?"

Zhao Tianyang didn't hide anything, recounting the entire story from beginning to end.

The Life Serum hadn't completely eradicated the toxin, and he only had one month left. He had come to repay a debt.

After listening, the Old Ghost remained silent for a long time.

A deathly silence fell over the shop.

After a long while, the Old Ghost let out an unidentifiable sigh from his nose.

"Alas…"

He had seen too many madmen who would stop at nothing for power, too many fools who brought about their own destruction due to greed.

But someone like Zhao Tianyang, he had never seen before.

"I don't know where he is." The Old Ghost put his mask back on, his voice returning to the coldness of a businessman, "People in the Black Market are like flowing soldiers. He bought something and left; how could I possibly know his whereabouts?"

A flicker of disappointment crossed Zhao Tianyang's face.

But he didn't leave.

"Then I'll wait here."

"Wait?" The Old Ghost found it somewhat amusing, "How long will you wait? What if he never comes back?"

Zhao Tianyang found an out-of-the-way corner, leaned against the wall, and slowly sat down.

He pulled his coat tighter, his body trembling slightly from the cold and pain.

"Then I'll wait until I die."

"If I die, please help me inform him… of my death. His kindness, I will repay in my next life."

His kindness, I will repay in my next life.

This sentence was like a rusty nail, piercing the Old Ghost's heart.

He looked at the young man huddled in the corner, his body shaking uncontrollably, yet stubbornly refusing to leave, and for a moment, he felt a sense of bewilderment.

In the Black Market, life was the cheapest thing.

For a bit of resources, for an opportunity, fathers and sons turned against each other, brothers fought to the death; he had seen too much of it.

Loyalty?

That was a luxury only the rich could afford.

Or rather, it was a shackles used by those in power to bind those below them.

Someone like Zhao Tianyang, who regarded his own life so lightly, yet valued an ethereal "kindness" more than the heavens… The Old Ghost had been in Yaoren Lane for half his life and had never seen anyone like him.

At this moment, even if Zhao Tianyang was a useless good-for-nothing, even if he were to die in this corner of his shop the next second.

The Old Ghost finally felt that Lin Yu's seemingly unprofitable three hundred thousand that day was an extremely worthwhile investment.

Such a person, in this man-eat-man society… was too hard to find.

But then, an even stronger sense of absurdity and incomprehension welled up.

He couldn't understand it.

His businessman's mind made him unable to process this pure emotional logic.

He took off his mask, walked over to Zhao Tianyang, and squatted down.

"Kid, did the medicine burn out your brain?"

Zhao Tianyang looked up, his pale lips moved, but he said nothing.

"You think he saved you, that he's your benefactor, right?" The Old Ghost continued to ask.

Zhao Tianyang nodded, a movement that pulled at his internal organs, making him cough uncontrollably.

The Old Ghost looked at him, appearing as if he could stop breathing at any moment, and lowered his voice, saying something he shouldn't have.

"I'm going to tell you something, listen carefully."

"That Life Serum was originally yours."

"Before you came, this Life Serum had already been reserved for you. It was I who, seeing his higher price, temporarily tore up my agreement with you and prepared to sell it to him. I was the one who broke the contract first." The Old Ghost spoke each word clearly and distinctly.

He stared at Zhao Tianyang's face, trying to find expressions of shock, anger, or sudden realization.

But he was disappointed.

Zhao Tianyang just listened quietly, not a ripple in his dim eyes.

This wasn't right.

This reaction wasn't right!

The Old Ghost's irritation grew. He felt his worldview being shaken by this half-dead kid.

"Didn't you understand?"

"The extra three hundred thousand he paid was just because I broke the contract, and he wanted to cut in line to buy what should have been yours!"

"This isn't kindness at all! This is a transaction! He's just a buyer who swooped in!"

The Old Ghost felt he had to enlighten this "fool."

He didn't believe there truly existed such incredibly foolish people in this world.

However, Zhao Tianyang merely shook his head gently.

"It's different."

"What's different?" The Old Ghost almost shouted.

"If that day, the person standing in his position was me." Zhao Tianyang looked at the Old Ghost and slowly said, "If I had already paid and gotten that Life Serum, and another person, a dying person, knelt down and begged me…"

"I wouldn't give it."

"Because that's my life, my only hope to live. I'm not that noble."

Every word from Zhao Tianyang was like a heavy hammer, striking the Old Ghost's heart.

"But he gave it."

"So, he's worthy."

The logic was that simple.

So simple that the Old Ghost couldn't refute it.

The Old Ghost opened his mouth but found he couldn't utter a single word.

Yes.

He couldn't do it himself either.

In this Black Market, who could do it?

Give up their only chance to live to a complete stranger?

Impossible!

But… but that's not how you calculate this kind of debt!