Chapter 3. Rare stones

Witnessing a queer thing like this, Aiden’s eyes dilated in terror as his gaze lingered on the very spot where the strange man dematerialized. His mind raced with tons of questions, but he couldn’t shake off the intense shock gripping him.

His mouth slacked with dismay!

Was he dreaming?

How could a human turned into dust and evaporated?!

And what was that eerie sensation he felt just now?

He really couldn’t accept the weird things happening to him just within today.

“ Stop it! I am not a fan of this kind of tricks! I have only seen this in movies, but this is reality!” Aiden yelled, his lower lip quivering like a thin leaf, and his eyes instantly scanned the surroundings inside the cave! “ Where are you, strange man?! I used my herbs on you! You better come back now! I can’t waste my rare herbs! They are meant for my grandma’s surgery money!”

However, even at that, he was still the only one.

Realizing the odd situation, his expression closed up, in addition to his lips snapping closely.

*thud!*

Aiden’s face collapsed into a mixture of melancholy and despair as he slumped heavily against the cave wall. His whole body was littered with gloom, and sitting there alone, he felt layers of unsettling emotions.

What was he going to do?

The only chance to help his grandma had just gone down the drain.

It took him a while to cool down, even though the shooting was still ongoing, loud and clear.

Aiden decided to wait for a while. After the shooting went down, the day had turned into night.

.

.

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Aiden quickly went back to the hospital. Upon getting to the hospital, he met two nurses at the reception, discussing intently. He ignored them since it was none of his concern and proceeded to his grandma’s ward.

“ Hey, you didn’t tell me the hospital had hired a new cleaner? But why does this new cleaner stink so bad?! Does he not knows cleanliness is godliness?! This is an hospital for holy sake! People like this are not to be welcomed! They can infect and implicate the lives of the patient!”

One of the two nurses spoke out immediately before Aiden could walk past them, her tone laced with intense disgust and disapproval!

The other nurse laughed mockingly and pointed to Aiden. She was the nurse he met earlier.

“You mean him?” A cold and disdainful snort escaped from her. “ Oh, he is not a cleaner. His grandma was admitted here. But honestly, the hospital shouldn’t accept hopeless and lowly people like him. He can’t afford the money for his grandma’s surgery. I will really advise him to give up, otherwise, it will all be a waste.”

The first nurse stared at Aiden incredulously, hearing what the second nurse just said.

“ No, this can’t be true! I am sure his so called grandma would be dead soon!”

Their words without filters caused Aiden to abruptly paused in his tracks. He didn’t need to ask. He knew they were referring to him. At first, he wanted to ignore their words, but he just won’t take it! They can drag him but not his grandma!

His temper sparked as rage pulsed through his veins! His jaws tightened, fury roaring through his mind!

“ Who gave you two the hell to talk about my grandmother like that?!” His eyes darkened, and the chills in them exploded, shattering the two nurses invisibly! The tension in the air was patent!

The two nurses immediately felt a shiver sipping in through their spines, and horror overtook their faces!

Aiden sneered and squinted his eyes fiercely! “ I will make sure you two regret and plead me for what you said today!”

Declaring this, he strode away, the heavy and domineering air running after him.

The two nurses widened their eyes and exhaled sharply as soon as Aiden was out of sight!

They couldn’t understand what just happened.

...

The hospital antiseptic scent filled Aiden’s nostrils as he strode towards the ward. Getting to the ward, he walked in calmly.

He caught sight of his grandma staring out through the small window in the ward, seemingly lost in thought.

“Is my strong Grandma thinking about something?” He forced out a smile and approached Isabelle slowly.

Isabelle could feel the bed sinking immediately as Aiden sat beside her, tilting his head. She turned to him and denied with a straight face,

“You got it wrong, Aiden. I am just relaxing.”

Aiden stared at his grandmother and knew it was a lie, but he didn’t bother saying anything.

His main thought was on how to get money fast for Isabelle’s surgery and treatment, since time was ruining out. The herbs he collected earlier were all gone now.

.

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It was quite late in the night, when Aiden and Isabelle got back to their small apartment.

Aiden went to prepare dinner and after the dinner, he left to his room.

Getting to his room, he sighed, his eyes sunken even more due to the extreme fatigue and emptiness. As he was about to discard his shirt, the small pocket bag from earlier, dropped to the ground.

*clang!*

Startled by the sound, his forehead creased, and he immediately took the bag from the ground. He hesitated for some seconds, nervous, before he summoned the courage to open the small bag.

A blinding light shot out across from the bag the moment he opened it, pricking his eyes, and he lost his balance instantly!

*Gbam!*

It took some minutes for his eyes to stop hurting, but his suspicions rose even more.

Without wasting time, he opened the bag wide and looked into it.....

Behold..............

He didn’t expect it!

The small bag was full of rare tiny white stones, which were really gleaming and blinding! Of course, he was familiar with these stones, and they are known as old white jade. These stones cost a fortune, enough to buy an entire city! One white jade alone cost nothing less than fifty million dollars, not to talk of many white jade stones!

Incredulous! Aiden’s muscles were twitching and turning rigid, just seeing this. His jaw dropped, flabbergasted as his body started trembling uncontrollably.

He had never imagined or thought of something huge like this! With shaky hands, he decided to count the stones.

As he started counting, he continued and continued, placing the stone on the ground one by one and shaking the bag.

Despite that, the small bag still remained heavy, and the stones seemed to multiply even more!

His eyes went round, puzzled but still continued counting. In fact, his throat and mouth was getting dry from counting too much.

What could be going on?

Aiden’s face turned white as sheet, suddenly realizing something even stranger and unbelievable!