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Chu Yuening pressed her earlobe and continued packing. Qiao Xing scanned the room filled with packing bags and pulled out a check from his pocket, handing it to her.

"This is the reward for helping my brother regain consciousness."

Chu Yuening took it and was surprised by the five zeros on the check. "One hundred thousand? That's not necessary."

When she initially agreed to help Qiao Xing, she hadn't discussed any payment. After all, Qiao Ziyuan's situation wasn't complicated and could be easily resolved.

She had thought that ten thousand would have been sufficient. Little did she know that the Qiao family would offer such a generous amount.

"It's all my father's decision," Qiao Xing said, rolling up his sleeves to join in the packing.

After Qiao Ziyuan woke up, his physical examination showed everything to be normal. It was astonishing to experts and doctors that he could maintain such regular physiological data despite being in a coma for so long.

Only then did Qiao Tianxin have time to attend to other matters. Upon learning that Chu Yuening had helped without demanding a price, and that his foolish son hadn't even mentioned how much should be paid, he became furious. Qiao's mother scolded Qiao Xing for quite some time, twisting his ear.

"That's still too much," Chu Yuening insisted, unwilling to accept it.

Qiao Xing shook his head. "Not at all. You saved my elder brother. If not for your intervention, he might not be here anymore."

"Moreover, after my father delved into the world of mysticism, he's heard plenty about the exorbitant fees these masters charge. Some even command tens of thousands for a single feng shui arrangement. In comparison, ten thousand is really not much."

Qiao Tianxin had already shown great restraint by not offering a million. He understood that Chu Yuening wanted to do a favor for Qiao Xin, and by giving a hundred thousand, he acknowledged that debt of gratitude.

In the future, the Qiao Corporation would undoubtedly lend a hand if Chu Yuening ever needed assistance.

"Alright then." Chu Yuening stowed away the check and continued packing.

After everything was neatly packed, Qiao Xin pulled out his mobile phone and summoned a team of movers. They promptly carried the luggage upstairs to the apartment, arranging everything in place before Qiao Xin bid them farewell.

The sheer white curtains billowed gently with the breeze by the window. Gazing at the scattered lights on the bay from the window, Chu Yuening felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.

The apartment was cozy and warm.

With a bag of trash in hand, Chu Yuening descended the building in the elevator. The area was densely populated, and night had fully descended, casting a few sparse lights across the high-rises.

She chased away a stray kitten scavenging through the garbage and disposed of the waste. A faint meow caught her attention, and she looked over to see an elderly man, hat on head, sifting through the stench with a pair of tongs, picking out recyclable bottles and cans to sell.

A pack of feral cats hissed and arched their backs, claws digging into the grass as they faced the elderly man. Amidst the swirling black aura stood a blood-soaked girl, her blood pooling on the ground. Exposed red muscle tissue was visible all over her body, save for her head – there wasn't an intact patch of skin to be found.

Seemingly sensing someone calling out to him, the old man paused in his act of picking up trash with his tongs, lifting his head to look around blankly. "Ajuan… Is it Ajuan?"

After a moment, not spotting anyone, he lowered his head and resumed his scavenging.

Chu Yuening attempted to leave, but the girl shifted her focus. Her pale, lifeless eyes slowly rolled, trickles of blood sliding down her cheeks like tears.

Her voice, hoarse and barely audible, was as if sliced by a razor. "Help me, help me..."

Chapter 36

At dawn, the sky had just started to lighten. The shops along the municipal building's alleyway were still closed, yet people with baskets were already coming and going through the pathways nearby.

The small market had gathered individuals from all corners of the country who had come to Hong Kong to make a living. As a beam of sunlight pierced through the thin mist and illuminated the pathways, the sky brightened further.

Sounds of washing vegetables, gutting fish, and sharpening knives filled the air, accompanied by Cantonese, Mandarin, and English chatter. Gradually, the hustle and bustle of human activity intensified.

A large detachment of uniformed officers began patrolling the market, unlike before, when only five were typically present; today, their number had doubled to ten. The stall owners, seeing the armed officers, expressed their discontent.

"What's going on here? With so many military police, they'll scare away customers. Who's going to foot the bill?"

"Exactly, we rely on our neighbors for business! With all these people around, customers will think we've done something wrong!"

The speaker was an uncle from the fish stall, dressed in a dark green apron and matching arm guards. He held a fish firmly on the cutting board, expertly gutting it while still managing to interject a comment or two between swift slices. The fish's tail flickered in a futile attempt at escape before falling silent.

Handing the packaged fish to a shopper, the fish uncle shook his head and sighed. "Day and night patrols – I really can't tell what the government is up to."

The lovely vegetable vendor held the morning edition of "Today's Hong Kong," occasionally engaging in conversation with the neighboring prawn seller about the latest news. Her complexion, yellowed from years of late nights and early mornings, took on a tinge of fear at the sight of the uniformed police officers.

"I swear, all these military cops today must be connected to that murder case last night," she ventured.

The prawn seller, who hadn't caught up on the news yet, paused in his task of refilling the seafood tank with seawater. "A murder case? Another one?"

"Yes, indeed," replied a grocery-shopping auntie, her voice trembling with the memory of the TV report. "Another woman's body was found in Sung Wong Toi Garden last night, chopped into pieces."

"Ahh—" The prawn seller sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes wide. "So they were skinned alive, then?"

"Well, that's the tragedy!" The lady sighed and shook her head. "Without a single piece of skin left, how will they reincarnate in their next life? It's truly pitiful to not even have peace in death."

According to the old beliefs, a person should be buried whole upon passing away, so that in their next reincarnation as a human, they won't be missing any parts.

It was rumored that the increased police presence was due to a murder case, and now, no one in the market dared to grumble anymore.

Unnoticed by all, a food cart had appeared in a corner.

Chu Yuening parked the cart and began to arrange the ingredients on the glass display. She placed the mangoes, used for making desserts, at the top and then bent down to pull out a small wooden table from beneath the cart.