Chapter 1 Depths of Despair

In the Second Hospital, Glouland.

Patrick sat with his back against the door of his mother's ward, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. The doctor's cold and ruthless words kept echoing in his mind.

"Your mother has advanced leukemia. Pay the hospitalization fee immediately. Treatment will cost around one hundred thousand dollars. Get the money ready. Otherwise, you should start making funeral arrangements for your mother."

Patrick squeezed his eyes shut and clamped his hands over his ears. His mother was diagnosed with leukemia!

A hundred thousand for treatment! Where would he get the money so soon?

It was undoubtedly an unbearably large sum of money for a college student.

His living expenses amounted to no more than five hundred dollars a month. How much could he save despite his remarkably frugal existence?

The immense pressure weighed down on his shoulders like a boulder. For a moment, Patrick felt so suffocated that he could hardly breathe.

"Ahem..." He heard his mother coughing faintly.

Patrick's heart skipped a beat. He quickly leapt to his feet and placed his trembling hand on the cold doorknob.

Through the glass panel on the door, Patrick could see the situation inside.

The ward was dilapidated and disgusting. Cracks crawled along the walls and the lights constantly flickered, as though they'd go out completely at any given moment.

His mother was lying in one of the beds with an IV hooked onto her arm and a breathing mask strapped to her face.

She looked haggard, her forehead creased with wrinkles.

She was only forty-three years old but her hair was grey and grizzled. She looked around a decade older than she was.

"Mom... I swear I'll get you the money!" Patrick made up his mind with fierce determination.

He took out his phone and dialed his girlfriend, Elissa.

He was relieved when the call connected.

"I still have a few thousand dollars in your account, right? My mother's really ill and she's in the hospital. Can you give me back the money as soon as possible?"

To his surprise, he heard a disdainful snort from the other end of the line.

"Your mother's illness has nothing to do with me. Besides, she's so old. If she's going to die, she'd better die sooner rather than later and save her son some money. I'm your girlfriend, Patrick! We've been together for three years and yet you never bought me a single designer handbag. You're such a loser!"

Without waiting for a response, Elissa hung up on him.

Her cruel words left Patrick chilled to the bone.

What a bitch! How stupid he was to have fallen in love with such a shallow, cold-hearted woman!

Patrick gripped his phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Ferocious anger was brewing inside of him.

But his anger ebbed as soon as it came. He had no time to dwell on Elissa. He had to think about his mother.

Patrick shook his head and sighed heavily. He decided to go to the office of the attending doctor, Percy Carter. He intended to beg Percy for a little more time for him to get the money ready.

In his office, Percy was wearing a lab coat.

He was a lean, gaunt man with sunken cheekbones and a flat nose. It could be said that he looked like a thin ape.

He was sitting comfortably in his chair with his legs crossed, chatting with someone on his phone.

He had just received a price list of all kinds of organs.

They were all very expensive. Percy's lips curved upwards in a satisfactory smile.

Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door.

Irritated, Percy put his phone away in a hurry and shouted, "Come in!"

"Dr. Carter..." A sullen-looking Patrick opened the door carefully.

A trace of joy flashed across Percy's face when he saw who it was. But he instantly put on an irritated look and snapped, "Didn't I just tell you to get the money ready? Why are you still here?"

Patrick begged in a low voice, "Can you treat my mother first and give me a few more days to come up with the money? I... I swear I'll find a way to pay you!"

Hearing this, Percy sneered at Patrick with open disdain.

"This is a hospital, not some charitable organization, okay? Do you know how much it costs to use our state-of-the-art medical equipment? If all our patients were like you, we'd go to bankrupt. Get out of my sight!"

Patrick's anger flared up again, but he held it in. He lowered his eyes and turned to leave, his heart sinking to the depths of despair.

"Wait." Percy suddenly stopped Patrick.

When Patrick turned around, Percy smiled at him faintly. "I might have a way for you to get easy money."

Patrick's eyes widened in surprise. His face brightened up as a glimmer of hope was sparked in his heart.

"Really? How? I'll do anything to save my mother! Just name it!"