Chapter 18: Good and Evil
The next morning, inside a hospital room.
Sunlight streamed in, a gentle breeze fluttering the white curtains. The air in the room was fresh, without the distinctive smell of disinfectant typical of hospitals.
Su Xiao reclined on the hospital bed, his right arm wrapped in bandages, even his five fingers individually bound.
Bubu Wang lay sprawled on the adjacent bed, snoring loudly. Last night, Bubu Wang had stood guard at the door all night, fearing an enemy might attack while Su Xiao was weakened.
Su Xiao moved his right arm. Previously, it had been severed at the upper arm. After last night's surgery, his arm had been perfectly reattached, showing no abnormalities.
The doctor who operated on Su Xiao was a middle-aged physician. Through the original work, Su Xiao recognized his identity. He was known as the Hell's Guardian, a doctor with medical skills so incredible he could perform heart surgery under local anesthesia. Reattaching a severed arm was considered a minor procedure to him.
Not only his right arm, but the wound on Su Xiao's chest had also been sutured. The Hell's Guardian's medical skills combined with Su Xiao's regenerative abilities had nearly healed his chest injury, leaving only the surface sutures to be removed.
"Hell's Guardian's medical skills are even more remarkable than I imagined, but he's also more dangerous than I thought."
Indeed, after interacting with Hell's Guardian, Su Xiao vaguely sensed that the man was dangerous. Although he appeared to be just a middle-aged doctor on the surface, the reality was different.
Many years ago, Aleister had been severely wounded by magic-side individuals and buried alive. The doctor who saved him was none other than Hell's Guardian.
Hell's Guardian not only saved Aleister but was also a key figure in the establishment of Academy City.
In the original work, few dared to directly interfere with or obstruct Aleister's plans, and Hell's Guardian was one of them. Afterwards, Aleister merely said indifferently, "I have an 'enemy' with a kind heart," and then let the matter drop, essentially leaving it unresolved.
From Aleister's attitude, one could see Hell's Guardian's special status in Academy City. He didn't participate in the city's management, but once he spoke, even Aleister couldn't ignore him.
As Su Xiao was pondering, the door opened. He turned his head to see a middle-aged, balding doctor in a white coat.
The hair at the back of the balding doctor's head was graying. He was slightly plump, with a round face. Overall, he gave off a simple and gentle impression.
However, no matter how Su Xiao looked at him, he felt that the combination of the balding doctor's physique, face shape, and hairstyle strongly resembled a frog.
The frog-like doctor was none other than Hell's Guardian. He entered the ward, followed by a young nurse.
The nurse stepped forward, checked the IV bag hanging beside the bed, and then took out a thermometer.
"My body temperature is normal."
Su Xiao waved his hand and casually pulled out the IV needle inserted into the back of his hand. For him, as long as the injuries to his arm and chest were fine, he could basically be discharged. But he wasn't familiar with the surgical process and didn't know how long it would take to be released.
"How long until I can be discharged?"
Hearing Su Xiao's question, the nurse hesitated for a moment. "If you don't feel any discomfort, you can be discharged today."
If it were any other hospital, such a statement from the nurse would be absurd. But this was the hospital run by Hell's Guardian, so being discharged so quickly wasn't surprising.
"Step out for now."
Hell's Guardian spoke, and the nurse walked out of the ward.
"You can be discharged now, but if you want to 'work,' you'll have to wait until at least tomorrow or the day after. If the nerves at the reattachment point of your severed arm rupture again, I can't guarantee you'll still be able to use a weapon."
Hell's Guardian seemed to know something.
"Can't it be faster? The nature of my 'work' is somewhat special. If my 'business rivals' recover first, I won't have another chance to be hospitalized."
Su Xiao pulled out a cigarette, and Hell's Guardian didn't stop him.
The blue smoke drifted away as soon as it rose, carried off by the breeze from the window. A faint scent of tobacco filled the room.
"Of course... not. If you recover too quickly, in a sense, it would be unfortunate for others."
Hell's Guardian's attitude wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.
"Doctor, those words sound harsh coming from you. As one of the creators of this large-scale testing ground, you actually care about whether others are unfortunate?"
Su Xiao intended to probe Hell's Guardian's stance. The man's medical skills would make Su Xiao's subsequent tasks much smoother.
"It seems you know quite a bit. Did Aleister tell you? Don't worry, there are no surveillance nanomachines here."
Hell's Guardian sat down on the bed where Bubu Wang was lying. It seemed he hadn't come just to visit a patient.
From the moment Hell's Guardian entered the ward, the two had begun probing each other.
"Not at all. Do I look like some reckless fool who barged in here knowing nothing?"
Hell's Guardian was one of the creators of Academy City—this wasn't too big a secret.
"True. Given your profession, it's not surprising you know some of the secrets here. But you just called this place a large-scale testing ground? You seem to have misunderstood the purpose of Academy City's existence."
Hell's Guardian let out a long sigh, his gaze turning to the window.
"So many people have been sacrificed here—vibrant young people. In contrast, many technologies beneficial to humanity have also been born here. Perhaps to Aleister, this is a large-scale testing ground, the foundation of some crazy plan. But to me, this is a pioneer in scientific development. Superpowers are just a small part of it, a flawed part."
After Hell's Guardian finished speaking, the room fell silent.
"You're not thinking... of killing that person, are you?"
Su Xiao stared intently at Hell's Guardian.
"No. If he died, this place would become a battlefield in no time. If I had wanted to, I would have done it decades ago. Why wait until today, when Aleister has become so powerful, to act?"
Hell's Guardian stood up. When he reached the door of the ward, he suddenly spoke: "There's a temple in the Twelfth District. The scenery there is nice. After you recover, you might want to visit. You might find an unexpected gain."
Hell's Guardian walked out of the ward. Su Xiao extinguished his cigarette. He realized one thing: the forces within Academy City weren't solely dominated by Aleister.
Hell's Guardian, who had always remained hidden in the shadows without revealing himself, was also not to be underestimated.
Hell's Guardian's cryptic remark before leaving was giving Su Xiao a choice: to side with Aleister's faction or with Hell's Guardian's faction. Of course, both belonged to the science-side forces, just different branches.
"So that's how it is. I was wondering how contractors would carry out their missions after entering Academy City. So there's also Hell's Guardian's relatively moderate faction."
Su Xiao got up from the bed. Based on the known clues, he deduced that some contractors with strong intelligence-gathering abilities wouldn't immediately flee Academy City. After all, Academy City was the main plot point of the Magic Index world. Leaving it meant losing a large number of opportunities to trigger side quests.
However, Su Xiao didn't plan to join Hell's Guardian's faction. If the other party wanted to cooperate with him, he would gladly agree. But joining his faction? No. Their styles of conduct were too different. Compared to Hell's Guardian, Su Xiao preferred to cooperate with Aleister. As for why Hell's Guardian was trying to recruit him, the reason was simple: his combat strength was formidable enough.
If Hell's Guardian represented the good force within Academy City, then Aleister represented the evil force. One good, one evil—both enemies and friends. They didn't interfere with each other's management while sharing technology. A mountain indeed couldn't hold two tigers, but Hell's Guardian and Aleister weren't "tigers." They were more like the difference between a warm-blooded animal and a cold-blooded one.
With Su Xiao's "benevolent" aura and his touching 6 points of Charm attribute, joining a good-aligned faction was definitely not a wise move. Only villains and villains have common ground.