As soon as Cheng left, Garie headed to the reception and picked up his phone, which was charging there, to call Marcus."Hello, Marcus sir! This is Garie speaking," he said into the phone.
"Garie, your number is already saved in my phone. And no one else could have called from your phone, right? Tell me—did you get Cheng's fitness certificate from the doctor or not?" Marcus asked sharply from the other end.
"Sir, I called to inform you about exactly that. Actually… Cheng has escaped from the hospital," Garie replied in a trembling voice.
"What? Are you kidding me? Are you out of your mind? How did Cheng escape? Where were you and what were you doing?" Marcus snapped in anger.
"Sir… you told me to get the fitness certificate, so I went to the doctor to obtain it… and that's when Cheng ran away," Garie explained.
"Are you so stupid that you didn't handcuff him?" Marcus cursed him furiously.
"Sir, I did put the handcuffs on… but he tricked me and my keys fell right there, and I didn't pay attention to it. Please forgive me, sir," Garie pleaded.
"You're a real bastard, Garie. Before I get there and take your life myself, get back to headquarters immediately," Marcus said angrily, cutting the call.
As soon as Marcus hung up, Garie exhaled deeply. At that moment, his face reflected a strange mix of fear at having to confront Marcus and the joy of helping Cheng.
Meanwhile, Cheng, running at full speed, first reached Metro Hospital, where his mother had been admitted. Upon arriving, he hurried to the reception and began inquiring about her.
"Excuse me… my name is Cheng. My mother was supposed to undergo a tumor operation today. Could you please check and tell me how she's doing right now?" Cheng asked the lady sitting at the reception.
The woman glanced at Cheng, then began typing his mother's details into her computer to check the information. After a moment, she replied casually, "You hadn't paid the hospital bills for the room, so your mother's surgery couldn't be done. She has been moved from the private room to a bed in the general ward."
But upon hearing the lady's response, Cheng's anger flared. "Do you have no decency? She was so sick… so weak from the medication, and yet you threw her out of her room!" he shouted, storming toward the general ward.
When he arrived, his knees seemed to give way beneath him. His mother was not in the general ward bed—she was lying on a cot near the bathroom. Heart pounding, he ran to her side.
"Mom… look at me, Cheng! I'm here, Mom. Open your eyes… look at me," Cheng pleaded, desperately trying to lift her.
But his mother's breath had already stopped, and she gave no response. A hospital driven by money had denied treatment to an elderly woman, leaving her to suffer and depart from this world.
Seeing his mother like this, Cheng broke entirely. He sank to the floor and screamed, crying with a grief so piercing that it tore through the hearts of those around him. Bystanders watching him weep felt their own eyes grow wet. Yet the medical staff cared for nothing but money, blind to the pain and emotions of anyone.
When the doctors saw that Cheng's crying had drawn the attention of all the patients and their accompanying relatives, who were now speaking ill of the hospital, one doctor instructed a ward boy, "Call security immediately and get this corpse and this man out of the hospital. And make sure to seize anything he owes if any bills are pending." Saying this, the doctor walked away.
Hearing the instructions, the ward boy called security. They began to drag Cheng away, carrying his mother's body as well, and placed it on a stone bench outside the hospital.
But then Cheng's eyes fell on the TV inside the hospital, where a breaking news alert was running about his escape from the hospital. The local police had declared him a dangerous fugitive. As soon as his picture appeared on the screen, everyone turned to stare at him.
Cheng realized then that no one in this world cared about another's pain or emotions—and that soon, people would capture him and hand him over to the police. With that thought weighing heavily on him, he rose, leaving his mother's body behind, and fled from the hospital.
"What an unfortunate son I am, Cheng thought bitterly, that I couldn't even see my mother one last time, nor can I perform her final rites. But Mom, I promise you—I will take revenge for your death from every person responsible for it. Whether it is the Secret Admiral, that corrupt detective Marcus, or these greedy hospital people who killed you for money." Lost in these thoughts, Cheng kept running aimlessly along the road.
Just then, a police officer sitting inside a patrolling vehicle noticed Cheng. In the very next moment, several police cars began chasing after him. They fired continuously at Cheng, because to them, capturing him alive or dead was the same.
The road echoed from all sides with the wail of police sirens, while Cheng ran ahead with all his strength.
Meanwhile, Garie had already reached the headquarters, where Marcus had convinced his seniors and gotten a shoot‑at‑sight order issued for Cheng. Smiling, Marcus walked out of the senior officer's cabin.
"At first, I thought I would fire you, but the work you did… in a way, it benefited us, Garie. That's why your job is safe," Marcus said, smiling as he looked at Garie.
But Garie didn't understand a word of what Marcus was saying. Confused, he looked up at Marcus and asked, "Sir, I don't understand. What exactly are you trying to say? Because of me, Cheng escaped from the hospital… and yet you're praising me?" Garie stepped closer, asking nervously.
Hearing this, Marcus handed him a piece of paper and said, "Read this and see for yourself."
When Garie began reading the paper, his eyes widened in shock. It was a shoot‑at‑sight order issued against Cheng. Staring at the paper, he looked back at Marcus, bewildered.
"What's the matter? Why are you so shocked, Garie?" Marcus asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Sir, Cheng is just a petty thief, and he doesn't even have any criminal history. Then how did a shoot‑at‑sight order get passed against him?" Garie asked in disbelief.
Hearing Garie's words, Marcus smiled and said, "Creating criminal history isn't the job of criminals—it's the job of us police officers, Garie. You're new here, so it'll take you some time to learn how things work. Now look—I've pinned all the old pending theft and robbery cases on Cheng. He's become a most‑wanted criminal now, and that's why a shoot‑at‑sight order has been issued against him, especially since he also carried out a life‑threatening attack on one of our officers while in custody." Saying this, Marcus looked at Garie and gave him a dangerous smile.
Garie still couldn't understand any of it and said with complete innocence, "Sir, but Cheng never attacked any police officer. And even if he did… which officer, and when?"
Hearing this, Marcus stood up and walked toward Garie. "Obviously—you, Garie. When he was escaping from the hospital," he said. And as he spoke, Marcus pulled out the army knife from his pocket and slashed Garie's hand deeply.
The cut was so deep that blood began to pour from Garie's hand, and he collapsed onto the floor. Marcus immediately called a police officer and ordered him to take Garie to the hospital. As Garie was being taken away, Marcus looked at him and said, "You'll tell everyone exactly what I told you to say, Garie. Otherwise, you know my nature." Saying this, Marcus walked away.
Garie had understood that by letting Cheng escape from the hospital, he had, in a way, put Cheng's life in danger—and now Marcus had the authority to take that life.
I should never have let Cheng escape from the hospital, Garie thought. Now this bastard Marcus will create any kind of situation to justify an encounter killing, and then Cheng won't even have the slightest chance left to prove his innocence in court. Why did I let Cheng run from that hospital? It would have been better if I had taken Cheng back to headquarters and let him be punished—at least he would still be breathing. I've sent him straight into the jaws of death. In a way, I'm just as responsible for Cheng's death as Marcus is. I don't even know where Cheng is right now, so I can warn him. What am I supposed to do now?
"What's wrong, Garie? Hurry up—why are you lost in thought? We need to get to the hospital," the police officer escorting Garie asked when he saw him lost in his thoughts.
Coming back to his senses, Garie moved forward with the officer and asked him to take him to Metro Hospital. He felt that Cheng might have gone there to see his mother and that he might still be there. But Garie didn't know that Cheng's mother had already passed away, and that Cheng had already fled—completely trapped in Marcus's web.
No one knew what was going to happen to Cheng now, because despite being innocent, he was running like a fugitive. His mother had lost her life due to people's greed, for which he also held the Secret Admiral responsible—someone who was completely unaware of all these events and had happily reached home, parking her car.