Chapter 1: Rebirth of the Severed Arm

  At 8:30 pm on March 16, 2011, at this time, people in rural areas or small towns may have already fallen asleep, and most people are watching various TV programs at home. For this international metropolis of Haicheng with a population of over one million, it was just the beginning of nightlife.

  The city is more beautiful and charming under the lights than in the daytime, with various advertising light boxes and vehicle lights, showing off the prosperity of this city.

  At this time, in the inpatient department of Haicheng Second People's Hospital, a young man was staring at his left hand in terror, wishing that his arm could be far away from him. At this moment, he was covered in sweat, with beads of sweat constantly dripping down his face, and his hair was already soaked through.

  "What a pity, this Zhao Long is actually quite good-looking."

  "It can't be, at such a young age, his arm was amputated, and his future prospects are ruined."

  "What a pity, another resource wasted. If I had met him earlier..."

  "Stop being silly, hurry up and change his dressing, also take a look to see if he's fully awake yet. Don't let him wake up and find out his arm has been amputated without any emotional preparation, or it'll be troublesome if he can't accept it."

  …………

  Zhao Long, who was staring at his left arm in horror, suddenly heard the nurses' conversation, and they were talking about him. In fact, he had woken up yesterday, but he wasn't very clear-headed, still feeling dazed. He only remembered that on his way home from work, he saw someone moving house, and a cabinet suddenly fell over. And right next to it was a little girl, Zhao Long reached out to support her, but after that, he didn't remember anything else.

  He woke up again in a daze, only to hear from the conversations of those around him that his arm had been amputated. At that moment, he felt as if his head was buzzing, and he was completely stunned. Afterwards, the hospital staff came and went, but he remained in a state of confusion. However, all of this was reality - two days had already passed since the surgery, and he was still lying there. It wasn't that Zhao Long couldn't accept this blow; rather, his entire body felt sore and tired, with no strength to speak of. His arm felt as if it had been bitten by countless insects, like the itching pain when flesh is growing back, and his blood seemed to be boiling, while his internal organs sent waves of pain from time to time. This kept him in a state of semi-consciousness.

  Until more than ten minutes ago, this feeling suddenly disappeared, and Zhao Long suddenly felt refreshed. However, when he sat up, his originally amputated left arm was intact there.

  Hearing their conversation, Zhao Long became a little more sober. Although he didn't know why his severed arm had regrown, someone was about to come in soon. If they saw him... Zhao Long's head grew bigger with worry. He definitely didn't want to be taken for a monster or caught by some special department and dissected for research. Even more so, he didn't want to stay here any longer.

  At the thought of this, Zhao Long suddenly got up. At this moment, his right arm was still connected to a drip, and as soon as he moved, the bottle shook violently, causing the drip stand to fall over.

  "Bang... Splash..."

  "Ah…… is that the voice from 106, go take a look......" At this time, Zhao Long heard the voices of those nurses again. He didn't care about anything else and directly grabbed the hospital gown neatly placed on the bedside table. After taking a glance, he found out it was on the first floor, so he opened the window and jumped out. As a sports ace in school, Zhao Long had ways to easily get down from floors below three.

  Zhao Long jumped down directly, but didn't notice that the door of his ward had been closed all along. The nurse's voice wasn't loud either, even if the frame in his room fell, when the nurse approached, she only faintly heard it.

  Zhao Long couldn't care about anything else at this moment, he was completely panicked and directly jumped out of the hospital room. As soon as he jumped out, he saw not far away the light from a flashlight, which was the security guard patrolling and walking towards him.

  Can't let anyone see, can't let anyone know, this is the only thought in Zhao Long's mind at this moment, and he suddenly sprinted out with a burst of force under his feet. Zhao Long rushed extremely fast, just over ten meters away was the wall, and in the blink of an eye he had already rushed past it, so fast that even he himself didn't expect it, to the point where he didn't even have the chance to think about controlling his body or braking, and he was about to crash into the wall.

  How did this happen, Zhao Long's brain was really dizzy, but just as he rushed to the wall in front of him, his eyes were about to collide, and Zhao Long's left arm instinctively lifted, his feet slightly exerted force, and his arm had already been placed on the two-meter-high wall. With a single hand lightly exerting force, his entire body had directly risen, pressed, supported, and exerted force, and he was already outside the wall.

  "Bang... Bang... Bang..." At this moment, Zhao Long only felt his heart beating rapidly. Strange things happen every year, but today he encountered something that made him exclaim "Damn it!" It was too unbelievable.

  "Alas... where is he?"

  "Look at this window, it's open. He just had surgery, where did he go?"

  "Didn't you see anyone?"

  "There's nobody here, where is everybody?"

  "Tell the doctor, hurry, find someone quickly..."

  At this moment, the nurse had already arrived at the ward, but found that there was no one in the ward and was also surprised. Seeing the window open, she looked out and found that the security guard was passing by from here, and they didn't find anyone either.

  Hearing the nurse and security guard's conversation, listening to them wanting to find someone, Zhao Long, who was already outside the wall, hastily quickened his pace. Haicheng Second People's Hospital is not far from where he lives, nor is it close, with over a dozen bus stops in between. Zhao Long has lived in this area for more than three years and is extremely familiar with it.

  Run, hurry up and leave this place, today's events are too strange, this matter must not be known to anyone. Zhao Long thought while running, as he ran, Zhao Long felt that the things around him seemed to have stopped moving, the occasional pedestrians on both sides, and the cars on the road also slowed down a lot, and the sounds became much quieter, so quiet.

  At this moment, he felt his heart beating slower and slower, and everything around him was also slowing down. Some people even came to a complete standstill. Fortunately, it was already evening, and although the night in Haicheng was bustling, there were not many people strolling on the streets, especially on this street. Moreover, Zhao Long's running location was far from the streetlights, and at this moment, his mind was also very confused. Although he felt strange, he just wanted to go home and didn't care about anything else.

  "Mom, mom, just now a black shadow passed by, zip, ran faster than Liu Xiang..." A little girl suddenly stopped and turned her head to look in the direction Zhao Long had just run past.

  Her mother turned around and saw nothing behind her, then scolded: "Don't talk nonsense, it's late at night, blame your father for telling you some ghost stories when he has nothing better to do."

  Zhao Long lives in the western suburbs of Haicheng, where there are many bungalows. Although it's not far from the newly opened subway, the prices aren't too cheap due to the convenient location. Of course, compared to the bustling city center, it's still much cheaper.

  He arrived, Zhao Long suddenly stopped in his tracks, only to realize that he had already reached the entrance of his residence on Dawn Sixth Street. Zhao Long lived on Dawn Tenth Street, which was one of ten streets from First to Tenth. It was so fast that even Zhao Long himself couldn't imagine it. At this moment, a horn suddenly sounded in his ear, and a bread van passed by him. The surrounding area was filled with the sounds of people's daily lives. There were many vendors selling roasted skewers and small items on the side of the road, and some people he knew were waving at him.

  Zhao Long suddenly realized what was going on. When he used to run at his fastest, he would slightly feel the surroundings slowing down and the sounds becoming slower. But it was extremely faint, nowhere near as strong as now. Now this feeling is too intense, and his casual movements are several times faster than before.

  This speed is probably impossible even for the real world champion, how can this be? Not only has my left arm been reborn, but my body and strength have also increased so much.

  What happened after all?

  "Bang... Bang... Bang..." At this time, Zhao Long only felt his heart beating violently, he was wearing a patient's clothes and walked towards his own small courtyard in a daze.

  "What kind of pajamas are these? They look like hospital patient clothes..."

  "Haven't seen you for several days, what's with this outfit?"

  …………

  Zhao Long is well-liked by people, and after living in the neighborhood for a few years, many people know him. At this moment, he can only nod his head and quickly walk into the yard. This is a two-story small building, with the landlord's family living upstairs, and the downstairs divided into three households that are rented out separately.

  "Finally caught up with you, do you think I don't know your tricks? Coming home late and leaving early, do you think you can hide from me like that? Hurry up and pay the rent, if not, then quickly move out and give me back my space. There are many people who want to rent a house now." The one blocking the door was Zhao Long's landlady, Yao Mei Li, a 26 or 27-year-old woman, whose appearance wasn't great but had starved herself very thin, originally not good-looking and with poor makeup skills, at this moment she looked even more unattractive when she blew up.

  "You think you can just wear a hospital gown and get away with it? This isn't a charity, this set doesn't work for me. Hurry up and pay, this time you have to pay for one and a half years at once, if you can't afford it then get out of here quickly." Yao Meili saw that Zhao Long didn't say anything, looked a bit dazed, and when she saw the clothes he was wearing were actually hospital gowns, she had even more to say. Her voice became even sharper, her words even more biting.

  "Xiao Zhao is back, how come he hasn't been seen for several days." At this time, a middle-aged woman came out of another house in the yard, slightly plump, holding a large fan. As soon as Yao Meili saw her, she frowned, especially when she saw the way she was fanning herself, and even more so with an extremely disgusted and disdainful attitude.

  This is Zhao Long's neighbor, Auntie Li. When renting the house that year, it was Zhao Long who reminded her to sign a three-year contract with the landlord. The price was set directly, and the rent was paid every half year. In the blink of an eye, a year and a half passed, and the rent has now risen to an unbearable level, almost doubling. Yao Mei Li looked at other people's homes with constantly rising rents and blamed her own husband every day, thinking of ways to drive away Zhao Long and Auntie Li. And then she proposed that Zhao Long and Auntie Li must pay all the rent for a year and a half at once.

  "Zhao, are you okay?" Seeing Zhao Long dazed, Aunt Li said, and then glared at Yao Mei Li: "Yao Mei Li, didn't you see that Zhao is uncomfortable? As a person, one must have a conscience and integrity. Even people in this small city understand, how come you don't? Don't be afraid, Zhao, if not, I'll help you borrow some money, we'll pay the rent to her, and she'll be furious."

  "You... " Yao Meili pointed at Auntie Li: "You'd better take care of yourself first, you're already quite old, and there's no need for you to interfere in everything."

  Aunt Li was delighted: "I have a copy of this contract, I live in this yard, and besides, I'm not as stingy and heartless as some people. When we rented this house, you weren't even the owner of this yard yet, no one knew who you were. Last year when you got married, you colluded with your mother to extort 30,000 yuan from us before getting in the car, otherwise, you wouldn't let us get in. If it wasn't for Xiao Zhao's kindness in running around and helping us gather the money, you wouldn't be able to show off here today. I just can't stand people like you, when I was in a small city, once I agreed to something verbally, it was as good as done, no one would go back on their word. What kind of person sees money and acts like they're possessed? You're really something, all you care about is money. If I were the landlord, I wouldn't have given you any money, I would have just driven the car to your ex-girlfriend's or some other woman's place and married her instead of you."

  Yao Mei was left red-faced by Auntie Li's few words, and she didn't even have a chance to interrupt several times. Auntie Li was tall and somewhat chubby, so Yao Mei didn't dare lose her temper, but she was panting heavily with anger. Meanwhile, Auntie Li was like an open floodgate, talking non-stop. She wasn't scolding anyone, but what she said left Yao Mei almost dizzy.

  Zhao Long was not a dull person, but at this moment his mind only had his own arm, and his left arm was still on his body, he couldn't even leave it far away. Also, just now he had jumped over the wall of more than two meters in an instant, and his running speed was also several times faster than normal, all of which made him terrified and uneasy. So at this moment, he was dazed and didn't notice Yao Mei Li, seeing Yao Mei Li being pushed back by Li Shu, no longer blocking his way, Zhao Long directly walked towards his room.

  "Alas, such a good kid, having to take care of the family and work at the same time, getting sick from exhaustion and still having to put up with your temper. Look how you're driving the child." Aunt Li looked at Zhao Long's appearance, thinking he was like this because of stress, and couldn't help but sigh.

  "You..." At this time, Yao Meili was about to stop Zhao Long again.

  "What are you, I can argue with you even if I cover half of my mouth. Bullying a child is nothing to brag about." Li Shu stretched out her big fan and blocked Yao Meili.

  "You... are... I won't bother with you country bumpkins, in three days the house lease is up, if you can't come up with a year and a half's rent, all of you get out." Yao Meili was left gasping for breath by Li Shu's words, finally shouting one sentence before storming upstairs.

  He returned to the house, Zhao Long immediately pulled up the curtains. The words of Yao Mei Li about handing over the rent three days later echoed vaguely in his ears, but he didn't have the mood to care about it now. He stood there for a while before slowly walking to the mirror and carefully taking off his upper garment. Slowly lifting his left arm to take a look, then looking at himself in the mirror again, his arm was indeed perfectly fine, without any damage. Moreover, he could clearly feel the strength on top, the sense of existence, no matter from which angle it was looked at.

  Zhao Long looked at it for half a day, and the original wound on his left arm was also perfectly fine. Zhao Long first moved it up and down, left and right, clenched his fist, carefully picked something up, and there were no problems at all. It was indeed his own arm, that kind of blood connection couldn't be wrong. Only after a while did he raise his right hand to touch his left arm, where it should have been amputated, but there wasn't even a scar. Zhao Long pinched it again, and there was a slight pain.

  "Am I dreaming or is this real?" Zhao Long finally became slightly more sober, muttering to himself, and suddenly saw a fruit knife on the table next to him.

  Zhao Long casually picked up the fruit knife in his hand, looking at his left arm and thinking to himself that everything that had happened was absolutely not a dream. Then how did his severed left arm come back to life like this, still so functional? Was it a prosthetic limb? But he didn't seem to have heard of such advanced prosthetics before. Had he become an unwitting test subject for some new technology, unknowingly fitted with a cutting-edge electronic arm?

  In his mind, Zhao Long placed the fruit knife on his left arm, thinking whether he should try to make a small cut or secretly collect some blood for examination. If not, Zhao Long really couldn't think of any other explanation as to why his severed left arm was intact and his body had undergone such great changes.

  "What's going on? Is it true or false?" Zhao Long muttered to himself.

  "Of course it's true, you little brat! Are you still thinking of self-mutilation?!" Suddenly, a voice sounded in Zhao Long's mind. What made Zhao Long even more shocked was that this voice seemed to be coming from his own left arm.