He walked toward the hospital room and quickly saw Logan Clark on the hospital bed, as well as Emily Bolton sitting by the bedside.

Emily Bolton saw Ethan Clark and quickly pulled him out of the room. “Why are you here? Don’t you have class? Your brother is fine.”

“I have to see for myself to be at ease.”

Ethan Clark said, looking at his mother Emily Bolton. “Was it an accident, or...”

“I don’t know. The driver ran off, and the traffic police are still investigating.”

Emily Bolton’s gaze flickered a little.

Ethan Clark saw this and understood in his heart.

“I understand. I’ll go urge the traffic department to give us a result as soon as possible.”

“You…”

Emily Bolton looked at Logan Clark lying on the bed, hesitated for a moment as if she wanted to say something, then changed her words: “Go to class.”

“Alright.”

Ethan Clark nodded.

He went into the hospital room to see Logan Clark.

Twelve-year-old Logan Clark had a maturity in his eyes that a child shouldn’t have. “Bro, you’re here.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, really. After all, I’ve been practicing martial arts with Dad for so many years.”

“Alright then, get some rest.”

“Hehe, now I finally have a legitimate reason to skip school.”

“What’s so bad about school?”

Seeing that he was in good spirits, Ethan Clark turned and left the room.

Standing in the corridor, Ethan Clark gradually fell silent.

Was Logan Clark’s car accident really an accident?

The street racers in the morning.

The car accident at noon.

Accidents, all piling up together.

But what could he do?

Ethan Clark sat on a stone bench in the small park beneath the hospital building.

“So this is... reality...”

He watched the people coming and going in and out of the building.

The masses, teeming.

All beings suffer.

“I should do something.”

Ethan Clark said.

In his heart, there was a fire.

The flames roared, burning fiercely, as if they were about to make him explode.

But he was very calm.

He knew this fire couldn’t be allowed to explode.

He had to suppress it, suppress it.

Hold it down tightly, stuck in his chest—even if it felt like a fish stranded on the beach, unable to breathe—he still had to hold it down.

“Martial arts, just a beginner in body training. In Longquan Sect, there are at least ten people who can beat me. As for status, I’m just a student...”

A student.

He, Ethan Clark, a student.

Facing a martial arts force like Longquan Sect, if he dared to resist...

He would die.

“A fish, once on the beach—if it doesn’t struggle, it’ll suffocate.”

People suffocate.

And die, too.

“Death.”

Ethan Clark closed his eyes.

Suddenly, the world became peaceful.

At that moment, it was as if all the sounds in the world were pressed down by that word “death.”

It felt like someone was being forced under icy water—apart from the struggle for life and the flow of blood, no other sound could be heard.

This state lasted for a second, two seconds...

Maybe even longer.

The next moment, he opened his eyes again.

“Buzz buzz!”

The world became lively again, full of noise and bustle.

The hospital building was crowded and noisy.

The world of mortals.

He stood up, looked up, and went to the first-floor window of the hospital to print out Logan Clark’s injury report.

Then, he wrote a prescription himself.

He went to a pharmacy outside the hospital, searched for a long time, and entered a rather quiet pharmacy, stopping at the counter.

“Hello, I’d like to buy some medicine.”

“Do you have a hospital prescription?”

The girl at the counter seemed to be on a video call.

“My brother was in a car accident and needs some painkillers...”

Ethan Clark said, handing her the hospital report, making sure the People’s Hospital stamp was visible.

The girl glanced at it during her video call. “Not this one.”

“Oh.”

Ethan Clark immediately switched to the prescription.

With the hospital report as backup, the girl didn’t look closely and quickly filled the prescription for him.

Next, Ethan Clark used the same method to buy a large amount of benzodiazepines.

Then, he returned to school and went to the chemistry lab.

He was a student.

A student...

It wasn’t strange to know that alcohol and concentrated sulfuric acid could be used to distill ether at 140 degrees.

It was all in the books.

Doing a few chemistry experiments, purifying some compounds, was also perfectly reasonable.

...

8 p.m.

Ethan Clark came out of an internet café and dialed a number on his phone.

“Longquan Sect registration office?”

“Yes, are you here to sign up for martial arts?”

“I am Ethan Clark, sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sword Sect. I want to speak to Brian Foster.”

Ethan Clark said.

The other end suddenly went quiet.

After a while, the person spoke again: “Wait. If the sect master wants to see you, you’ll get a call.”

“Alright.”

Ethan Clark replied.

He waited for half an hour.

Ethan Clark took the opportunity to eat a bowl of spicy hotpot by the roadside. His phone rang.

Ethan Clark answered, and Brian Foster’s somewhat amused voice came through: “Sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sword Sect?”

“I’ve already disbanded the Heavenly Dao Sword Sect.”