Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1446: Chapter 73: Another Joe

Faced with Nero’s questioning, Hades… did not directly deny it, which was tantamount to an affirmation—at least Nero could think so.

“Hmm… is it really so?”

But after receiving such an affirmation, Nero became surprised instead—she let go of the Yama Sword, allowing it to still pin Hades’s shadow, and then circled to the front to scrutinize him carefully.

At this moment, Hades became calm instead… Nero suddenly reached out, extending both hands to pinch Hades’s cheeks and then pulled.

“You still like to bully me like this… big sister.”

Hearing this, Nero had an expression like she’d seen a ghost, and she jumped back a step, staring at Hades with a suspicious gaze.

She instead became uncertain and hesitated to ask, “Are you really Joe?”

He slowly nodded, “Big sister, long time no see… Your name is Nero, right?”

Nero’s gaze instantly became sharp, she quickly observed her surroundings, as if trying to distinguish something—she remembered never formally introducing herself.

Whether it was when she was with that little dog Joe, or fighting with the stupid husky, she never exposed her identity—being able to speak her name meant it could possibly be some ability to twist thoughts, or it was already learned from some other source.

Of course, another possibility was that he knew from the start.

Knew from the start…?

“How do you know my name?” Nero asked expressionlessly.

“Of course, you told me yourself.” Hades said this while looking into Nero’s eyes, the certainty and sincerity in his gaze was something Nero resisted the most.

She frowned, “I don’t remember ever introducing myself… I even suspect I’ve been caught in your trap from the beginning without realizing it.”

“You did tell me yourself at that time.” Hades slowly shook his head, “You know, big sister, Mr. Death eventually took me away.”

“What did you say?” Nero suddenly lifted her head.

But Hades’s figure in front of her gradually began to fade.

“Yama Sword!”

Seeing this, Nero immediately called out softly, and the Yama Sword that pinned Hades’s shadow began to tremble instantly, with an eerie red light flowing on the blade—but even so, it ultimately couldn’t stop Hades from disappearing… leaving.

The place where the Yama Sword pierced the floor no longer had a shadow… Nero walked to the Yama Sword, lifted it with a puzzled expression.

After a while, Nero turned back to look at Teacher Prin lying on the ground, thinking of something unknown—suddenly, Nero retrieved Joe’s body, which she had discarded early on.

Then, she directly extended her hand into her own body, pulling out a faint white fist-sized orb of light—she rubbed the orb randomly on her clothes a few times before inserting it back into Joe’s body.

Then she herself shrunk to the size of a mosquito, and flew into Joe’s collar… Meanwhile, the Yama Sword turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared.

She waited like this—until Teacher Prin slowly regained consciousness.

…

When Teacher Prin swayed his body and got up, his gaze was confused—he looked around dazedly, for a long time lightly rubbing his forehead, meanwhile, Teacher Prin also saw Joe who was lying motionless on the ground.

He hurriedly walked to Joe’s side, subconsciously reaching out… but found that his gloves had been removed during the battle, he hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly put on the white gloves and only then picked up Joe.

Looking at Joe, who had been revitalized, Teacher Prin seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, silently—he didn’t even notice that the black-covered book was already gone.

When Joe’s eyelids twitched, seemingly about to awaken anytime, Teacher Prin hurriedly carried Joe into the small town hospital.

At this time, due to Teacher Prin’s earlier state, causing the power of the Devil’s Bible triggered a large number of deaths, the hospital, whether those who were there for treatment or the busy doctors and nurses, all fell to the ground.

But their lives were also recovering, and it was believed they would soon wake up—Teacher Prin glanced around, he knew it was his doing that made things like this, but didn’t know what exactly restored everything to normal.

Could it be that white-haired girl?

Along with his Devil’s Bible, it seems that mysterious white-haired girl took it away?

Teacher Prin bowed his head in thought for a moment, finally putting Joe on a seat in the hospital lobby.

He silently watched Joe’s face. Suddenly, Teacher Prin extended his hand, directly grabbing Joe’s neck… with a slight force.

His fingers even felt the bones in Joe’s neck, confident that with just a little more force, he could break Joe’s throat… a child’s body has always been so fragile.

When Teacher Prin finally slowly released his hand… he looked at Joe, retreating little by little, finally disappearing in front of the hospital.

At this time, someone came… it was a policeman—the policeman discovered Joe lying on the chair, after taking a few glances, was surprised to find, isn’t this the child Mr. Smith reported missing?

“Strange, how did he end up falling asleep here on his own?”

…

In the hospital operating room, doctors and nurses suddenly came back to their senses—the doctor even found himself inexplicably lying on the ground.

He looked up at the operating table above him and was immediately drenched in a cold sweat—knowing that he was performing a very critical surgery on Mrs. Deborah, any deviation could have led to Mrs. Deborah’s death!

But what shocked the doctor, as well as the waking nurses, was that Mrs. Deborah’s condition seemed to be improving—at least not looking as if the surgery would still likely fail.

“What exactly happened?”

Currently, the lights in the operating room are still on, and Mr. Smith and Lady Elura are anxiously waiting in the corridor outside.

It was well past midnight… the time was half past twelve.

At that moment, Mr. Smith suddenly heard a sound, like breathing, or perhaps speaking… whispering in his ear, leaving him at a loss.

Watching the numbers jump on his phone screen every minute, Mr. Smith felt the passage of time for the second time in his life – reminding him of when he first had this feeling.

Back then, he too was staring at the time on his phone… his body was completely pinned under an overturned car, his legs trapped hopelessly – he was staring at the time on his phone, crying out in pain and helplessness for help.

Because back then his mother, Lady Elura, was in the car, her head bleeding, unconscious… Deborah’s lower body was even more severely bleeding due to the violent impact – he knew his wife was experiencing a difficult labor!

As for his son Joe, the intense impact tangled the seatbelt around his neck… Mr. Smith could clearly see Joe’s face turning a shade of purple.

When Mr. Smith came back to his senses, he found himself already in a hospital bed. According to the doctor, someone drove by, immediately called the police and an ambulance – thanks to timely rescue, Mr. Smith’s family miraculously survived, and even Mrs. Deborah’s second child was saved.

“Mother, do you remember when we came back to our senses in the hospital half a year ago?” Mr. Smith suddenly asked.

Lady Elura was first startled, then firmly gripped Mr. Smith’s arm, thinking he was trying to comfort her, “Of course, I remember. I’ll never forget it… Don’t worry, Deborah will be alright.”

But Mr. Smith shook his head at this moment and said, “I mean, did you hear any sounds… like someone speaking to us in the hospital then? Didn’t we discuss this at the hospital back then?”

“I seem to recall, indeed there was such a thing.” Lady Elura was stunned, “But later, I forgot… Is there something going on, Smith? I recall the doctor saying it’s just because of the severe injury that it was auditory hallucinations.”

“I heard it.” Mr. Smith took a deep breath, “I heard that sound again.”

Lady Elura couldn’t help but be startled, then firmly held her son’s hand – she didn’t mention the black cat she saw.

But she knew what that black cat she saw was – because of her age… people of this age actually can sense it.

Lady Elura also believed that in this hospital, some people who were about to meet death could be as sensitive as she was.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Lady Elura softly comforted Mr. Smith, as if comforting herself too… She looked at the red glowing surgery light, murmuring softly, “It’s fine.”

“Sir, isn’t this your lost child? We found him sleeping on a chair in the hospital lobby.”

Two police officers slowly came by, one of them holding the sleeping Joe… Mr. Smith immediately stood up, this was probably the only comforting thing in this awful night.

“Out!”

Lady Elura suddenly exclaimed anxiously.

The light outside the operating room suddenly turned green, and not long after, the chief surgeon walked out… He took off his mask, looking exhausted.

Mr. Smith and Lady Elura hurriedly approached, the doctor solemnly said, “The patient’s condition has temporarily stabilized… We did our best, the surgery was relatively successful, from here it’s up to the patient now.”

“What on earth?” Mr. Smith tightly grasped the doctor’s arm.

The doctor explained helplessly, “The surgery was successful, but the patient hasn’t escaped the critical stage yet… now it depends on the patient’s will to survive… The patient will be transferred to intensive care later, you can go see her.”

This was clearly not good news, Lady Elura suddenly leaned against Mr. Smith’s chest, her face paling.

Later, Mrs. Deborah was transferred from the operating room, and the two followed until she was in the intensive care unit… and naturally, no one mentioned resting, only Joe continued his deep sleep.

Meanwhile, Mr. Smith could no longer hear the voice he heard outside the operating room… Feeling helpless, he looked through the glass at Mrs. Deborah who was unconscious due to anesthesia.

A reflection flashed across the glass, and Mr. Smith shivered suddenly… He turned around, but saw nothing.

Yet that reflection on the glass seemed to be of a black… cat.

…

…

In the night sky, mosquitoes flew leisurely like tangled lines.

On the ground, Teacher Prin was alone again, after he reached a red-light intersection, he chose to stop—though it was a green light, he should have crossed it.

In fact, half a day ago, an elderly person collapsed at this intersection, and the ambulance wasn’t timely enough before the old man passed away.

Teacher Prin stood silently here through several cycles of red light transformations, if it weren’t so late at night, he would be considered a monster by standing here like this, wouldn’t he?

In the night sky, those mosquitoes flying didn’t know how many rounds they had circled nearby, eventually stopping idly on a street lamp, until Teacher Prin stepped forward again, and they weakly flew up again, letting out the annoying buzzing, following Teacher Prin along.

Teacher Prin seemed unaware of anything trailing him, continuing his steps slowly, looking exhausted, walking more and more slowly… who knows how long it was until Teacher Prin suddenly stopped.

He had arrived at a very old house… in fact, this house was not only old, but appeared as if it hadn’t been inhabited in a long time.

Teacher Prin walked to the door of the house, gently pushed it open, producing a creepy creak, a musty smell wafted through – this place certainly hadn’t been inhabited for a long time, piles surrounding it, but the floor had clear footprints.

The mosquitoes also flew into the house, Teacher Prin still hadn’t noticed. His body hunched more, almost unable to move, he had to lean against the wall, eventually reaching a sofa with worn leather from insect bites.

He collapsed onto it, instantly falling asleep.