Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 290: Interesting

Chapter 290: Interesting

I saw Bin An Sha stiffen, and I knew that the stranger had to have seen it, too. I didn’t like the idea of a verbal hit landing on one of my men. But before I could say something, Bin An Sha continued to speak. "You are claiming the shadows?"

"For now. You and I both know that this city won’t be standing for long after those teams return with the zombies," replied the stranger, giving away just how aware he was of everything that was happening.

But the more he spoke, the more it drove me crazy. I knew him, I’ve heard him before... but where?

"Boss?" interjected Bai Long Qiang.

"Long time no see, Dragon. Nice to know that your time at Camp Hell wasn’t completely detrimental. You’ve joined up with the Doc, one of the most powerful healers in this country. And here was me thinking that you were looking for your woman. Did you give up on her after all?"

"I found her," smiled Bai Long Qiang, turning his attention to me for a split second before looking over Rip’s shoulder. "I guess I should thank you for your help in that regard." He wrinkled his nose, letting me know just what he thought of that statement.

"Don’t bother. Whether you lived or died had nothing to do with me," replied the stranger, and I finally figured out where I knew him from. He was in Camp Hell...

"Have you laid off the cigarettes?" I asked, cutting him off. That’s right! He was the man with the stage 4 cancer that had come to Camp Hell just to see me. He promised me a favor in return for healing him, but he never told me his name.

There was a long pause, and just as I had assumed that I had the wrong person, I could hear footsteps coming toward me. "Healer?" came the tentative voice. It sounded so much softer than when he was speaking to the guys. So much gentler.

"Long time no see," I repeated the same phrase he used on Bai Long Qiang as Rip turned around, and I got to see the man I hadn’t seen in a while. "You look better."

"Hard not to," he smiled. He was still short for a man, more around my height than the guys, but I wasn’t kidding about him looking better. He had more black hair than grey, and his skin was so much better. He almost looked completely different.

"Very true," I nodded. The fact that he looked as good as he did at Camp Hell, being as sick as he was, was a miracle. "Come here," I gestured for him to come closer so that I could make sure that nothing had returned.

I needed all the allies possible in this city, and as the head of a guild, he must have amassed a lot of power.

Without a word of protest, he weaved around Bin An Sha and came to stand in front of me. Bowing his head slightly, he smiled at me. "It’s nice to see you out of that cage," he murmured, holding his hand out and taking mine.

Rip let out a low growl, causing the man to chuckle. "Still have the same old bodyguard. You know, I can give you any of my teams if you want. Someone like you should be well guarded."

"I have seven men guarding me; I don’t think that even the princess of this city can say the same," I laughed before sending my power through him. I healed the black eye and made sure that the cancer hadn’t returned.

"You’re lucky," I smiled at him. "There isn’t a trace of it in you anymore."

"And that’s all thanks to you. And I believe I owe you a favor," smiled the man as he let go of my hand and gently placed it on my lap. He patted it once like my dad would have.

"You do, but I am not cashing it in yet. How about we start with your name?" I suggested instead. I still didn’t know what I wanted, but I couldn’t keep calling him Stage 4 in my head.

"My apologies; I am Hu Wen Cheng, head of the Retribution Guild, owner of more fight clubs in City A than I ever want to admit to, owner of a few gambling halls and bars, and the leader of the White Tigers, the syndicate that controls the northern end of the country."

I blinked rapidly as he listed off his various titles until he ended on the most significant one: leader of the White Tigers.

Well... crap. What was I supposed to do now?

He must have misread the look on my face because he held up his hands as if to assure me. "I might be the leader of a syndicate, but I can promise that absolutely nothing will touch you. You have my word. There is nothing to be scared about."

"Yeah, I don’t think she is scared... more like... confused," chuckled Fan Teng Fei from where he stood beside the window behind the desk. I swear, I was getting worried that one day, he was just going to launch himself from there and see if he could fly like Hei.

"Confused?" asked Hu Wen Cheng. "Why would you be confused?"

"Well," I started, wondering if I was going to start some sort of syndicate war that I really wasn’t prepared for. "We went out, and I healed the head of Black Mountain Syndicate’s wife, and then I healed the head of Red Dragon Syndicate, and I guess you are the one that started all of it because I healed you a while back, too."

Now it was Hu Wen Cheng’s turn to look at me, stunned. "You mean to tell me that you have a connection to the other two syndicates?"

I nodded my head, happy that he didn’t immediately kill me. Or maybe I had just watched too many mafia movies before I transmigrated. Either way, I could always use my favor to keep us all alive.

"Interesting," mused Hu Wen Cheng, looking off in the distance as if putting new plans into motion. "Very interesting."