Chapter 122: Potted Plant

Under the sunlight, the glass curtain wall shimmered with a faint bluish-green glow. The entire Qingteng Hospital building looked like a piece of jade set into the heart of the city.

Instead of ornamental trees, the entrance was lined with wisteria vines climbing over wooden fences. The wisteria wall stretched over twenty meters on each side, blooming in full splendor. It was a breathtaking sight that lifted the spirits of all who passed by.

Inside, the hospital was spacious and well-lit. The first-floor lobby bustled with people registering, paying fees, and picking up medication. Nurses and robots worked together to guide patients, keeping everything orderly.

Qin Qing did a quick scan of the medical staff’s stats. Their Merit Values were significantly higher than average, consistent with other hospitals. Sin Values were also within normal range.

Nothing unusual.

While riding the elevator in the outpatient building, Meng Yuan nudged Qin Qing and gestured toward the elevator buttons.

The button for the fourth floor had an acrylic label over it that read: Free Clinic Floor.

The Captain explained, “It’s one of Qingteng Hospital’s unique features.”

They got off on that floor to take a look. It was more crowded than usual.

A bulletin near the entrance explained that the free clinic didn’t charge registration fees. The departments on duty varied daily, with available doctors rotating in to help.

Directly above the free clinic was the obstetrics and gynecology department. It was similar to those in other hospitals, even more user-friendly in details like handrails and seating.

The doctor on duty today happened to be the same one who had delivered babies for those foreign girls. Qin Qing carefully reviewed the logs. Everything pointed to standard deliveries. These kinds of entries were repeated daily in the logs.

Nothing stood out.

“Let’s visit the families who married foreign brides,” Qin Qing suggested.

The Captain picked one nearby.

But the visit was a bust. The original address was empty.

This was an old residential area where neighbors still knew one another.

A friendly neighbor pointed them in the right direction, saying that after the couple’s son had passed away, their daughter had taken them in. They now lived in a nearby new housing complex.

They checked the resident database for the exact address and headed over.

With Qin Qing’s abilities, they didn’t even need to go upstairs to gather intel.

But she had always maintained the appearance of doing things by the book—at least meeting people face-to-face, even if just briefly.

So when they knocked on the door, they didn’t show any credentials or make much effort to disguise themselves.

Only the Captain and Meng Yuan linked arms, pretending to be a young couple looking to rent an apartment who had knocked on the wrong door.

An elderly woman answered. She looked well and seemed unfazed by the mistake, kindly giving them directions before gently closing the door.

Once the door shut, the Captain turned to Qin Qing with a questioning look.

She nodded.

He walked a few more steps with Meng Yuan until they were out of view from the peephole, then let go of her arm.

The ride back to the car was quiet. Once they were safely inside, he asked, “What did you find?”

Qin Qing had indeed discovered something.

She had originally come to contact the family in hopes of using a genetic map to trace the missing children.

But once there, she realized there was more to the story.

“That child wasn’t her deceased son’s.”

It all started when her son was diagnosed. Someone had contacted him with a request—pretend to be in a fake marriage, and in return, he’d receive a generous payment.

The contact had spoken directly with her son. The old woman only knew what he had told her. She had no idea who the person was.

At first, she didn’t want her ailing son to be dragged into anything, but he insisted. He wanted to use his remaining time to earn some money for his parents’ retirement. The elderly couple eventually agreed.

She had initially suspected it might be some kind of ghost marriage, using a dying man as a stand-in.

But when she learned the girl was healthy and young, and that the payment was substantial, she began to suspect it might be a rich man’s mistress using someone else as cover.

Then she met the girl in person. She wasn’t pretty, and she was a foreigner who barely understood Chinese.

That was far beyond the old woman’s frame of reference.

All she knew was that after the girl and her son registered their marriage, the girl was taken away. When she returned some time later, she was pregnant.

The other party had paid generously for rent, nutrition, and even a nanny.

During her pregnancy, the girl didn’t act like someone being kept.

She helped with chores, was humble, and even hand-sewed clothes for the whole family.

As for the child, the girl never mentioned anything, and the old woman didn’t ask.

Before giving birth, the girl even helped the family arrange the son’s funeral.

When it came time to deliver, she went straight to Qingteng Hospital, where she had been getting her prenatal checkups.

Afterward, the old woman helped care for her for a while, partly to distract herself from the grief of losing her son.

Half a year into breastfeeding, the girl suddenly said she was leaving. The old woman felt a bit wistful.

The child was adorable. She had even considered raising him herself.

But the girl took the child with her when she left.

Since then, the old woman had never seen either of them again.

She had no idea what had really happened.

Only the sizable deposit in her bank account proved that those two had ever existed.

It was truly baffling.

So far, they had no idea what the people behind this were trying to achieve.

The child had no blood relation to the domestic family, leaving no trail to follow.

“Can we arrange for those girls who returned to their home countries to come back here?”

“We can, but the paperwork is complicated. Who knows how long it’ll take,” the Captain replied. “But one of them married a businessman after returning home. The couple often travels to Yunnan Province. It’ll be easier to track her down there.”

After reporting the situation, they revised their action plan.

Qin Qing wouldn’t need to make deep contact with the target. She only brought a few of her security personnel to scout the area.

The main Action Team remained on standby in Beifu. If Qin Qing discovered the whereabouts of the child, the team could move in immediately.

With the target’s passport information logged on camera, finding them was a walk in the park for Qin Qing.

Frontline intelligence agents had already mapped out the general movements of the couple in question.

They were headed to a well-known tourist destination in Yunnan Province.

This time, Qin Qing could almost consider it a business trip turned vacation.

Sipping on an iced coffee from Laos, she leaned against the railing, lulled into drowsiness by the breeze from the Lancang River.

Beside her, including Shi Jiang, three security personnel were eating.

Yes—eating.

That was the only word Qin Qing could think of when she watched them.

All of them moved with mechanical precision, repeating the motions of picking up food, feeding themselves, and chewing. Over and over again.

There was no delight from tasting something delicious, nor any grimace from encountering something terrible.

Qin Qing missed her usual dining companion, Meng Yuan.

With her soft, expressive features, Meng Yuan could convey the full spectrum of taste—sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty—with vivid flair.

Eating with Shi Jiang and the others, Qin Qing found her appetite waning.

She took another sip of her iced coffee. The sweetness hit her all at once, cloying and heavy. She refocused her attention on the riverside walkway. According to the intel, the couple would pass through here this afternoon.

A chime from the System Panel snapped her out of her daze.

The people they were waiting for appeared at the far end of the walkway.

Just an ordinary-looking couple, indistinguishable from the locals.

The man had dark skin and slightly unkempt long hair. He wore a loud floral shirt and matching shorts, with a pair of worn flip-flops.

The woman had her hair tied up in a high bun, adorned with a frangipani flower. A flowing floral dress fluttered around her as she walked.

They held hands, chatting and laughing as they strolled.

Qin Qing focused her gaze on the woman.

Her reading speed had improved drastically thanks to training—it was no longer what it used to be.

Before the couple even passed out of sight, Qin Qing had already scanned the most critical section of the woman’s journal.

As she processed the meaning behind what she had just read, her pupils contracted sharply.

Despite the sweltering thirty-degree heat, a chill ran through her entire body.

She called the Captain and gave him two addresses.

Her voice was icy, each word ground out between clenched teeth. “Bring everyone you can. Destroy everything that can be destroyed.”

After hanging up, Qin Qing trembled uncontrollably for a long time before she could calm down.

It wasn’t fear. It was rage.

How could there be people in this world so selfish, so cruel?

She had no more interest in sightseeing or food.

She booked a flight back for that evening.

But thunderstorms delayed the flight. By the time she arrived, it was already the next morning.

Qin Qing didn’t return to Beifu. She went to Fuxi City, a mountain city.

It was the location of the address she had given.

By the time she arrived, the operation was already over.

Several Action Teams had worked together, swiftly completing the raid and arrests.

At the temporary rest site, Meng Yuan sat wrapped in the Captain’s jacket, her eyes blank and tears silently streaming down her face.

The Captain sat beside her, smoking, eyes fixed on some distant void. A pile of cigarette butts lay at his feet.

Without a word, Qin Qing walked over and sat down next to Meng Yuan.

Startled, Meng Yuan turned to see who it was. The moment she recognized her, she buried her face in Qin Qing’s shoulder and sobbed even harder.

Qin Qing sat with her in silence.

No one knew how much time passed.

The Captain of Team F stormed out, cursing everyone in sight.

“What the hell are you all moping around for? There’s still a mountain of work to do. So many kids to take care of, so much data to process. Who’s going to do it if not us?”

No one responded.

A black van pulled up to the gate. Cisha stepped out from the back seat, dressed in a black shirt and combat boots.

She came to a stop in front of the group.

“Report.”

The Captain stubbed out his cigarette, brushed off his pants, and stood up.

His voice was hoarse. “The core of this case revolves around a type of flowerpot that can cultivate human organs. For now, we’re calling it the ‘Organ Bonsai.’

There are eleven pots in the set. According to lab records, they can be configured to grow specific organs based on tissue samples from the intended recipient. The organs produced are perfectly compatible with the host—no risk of rejection.

Each organ takes a year to grow. During that time, it must be regularly infused with a special nutrient solution. If the infusion stops, the entire process fails.

And that nutrient solution is made from the blood of the recipient’s immediate relatives. The younger the donor’s genetic age, the longer the organ’s lifespan.

That’s what the children were used for. The missing kids are preliminarily believed to share the same genetic source. We’re still waiting on the bioanalysis results to confirm.

As of now, twelve children have been recovered. When we found them, they were being kept like livestock in a pen. Medical checks show severe physical and psychological trauma. They can’t speak, have no social skills. We’ve sent them to nearby hospitals, but it’s unclear how many will survive.”

Cisha’s voice was cold as ice.

“What about the bonsai?”

The Captain glanced at her. “We’ve destroyed them all. That kind of thing can’t be left behind. The lab personnel resisted arrest and were killed on the spot.

They were extremely cautious. Each organ sold for a hundred million. There’s no buyer information, only serial numbers in the records. We can’t identify who they are.

According to the documents, organs have already been cultivated for twelve clients. Another six are still on the waiting list.”

When the Captain finished, Cisha turned to Qin Qing. “Can we identify the buyers?”

“I’ll head to the hospital to see the children.”