Judge of Souls - Chapter 73

Sun Yi removed his glasses, as his slight nearsightedness made his vision somewhat blurry.

“A month and a half ago, I was Zhao Ta. I died in the operating room after getting into an argument with Sun Yi and being stabbed in the abdomen with a scalpel.”

His name was Zhao Ta, and he had once been a surgeon before being transferred to the emergency department.

He was born into a very ordinary, or rather relatively poor family. No one in his extended family had produced a college graduate for several generations, and he was the first medical graduate from a prestigious university.

He studied, experimented, and worked extremely hard, hoping to make something of himself. Because of his poor social skills, unattractive appearance, and peculiar temperament, very few people liked him throughout his life, apart from a few of his teachers. His classmates mocked him with various words and actions, believing that even though he had gotten into a good university, he would never adapt to modern society.

Later, he became a doctor and proved through continuous effort and practical actions that not only was he intelligent, but his technical skills were also excellent. In the entire surgical department, he had the fastest hand speed and the steadiest hands. Yet he was still transferred away from this place.

His classmates had been right—his background made it difficult for him to adapt to modern society. Pride required not only skill but also social capital.

Sun Yi had joined the hospital in the same batch as him, but they were complete opposites. Sun Yi didn’t need outstanding technical skills or exceptional achievements to rise steadily through the ranks. All titles and honors came to him first. The surgical achievements of other doctors could be grafted onto his record.

He was superficially polite to everyone, didn’t care about patients, enjoyed socializing, changed girlfriends every few months, and had countless ambiguous relationships. He often sat in the department playing games and badmouthing doctors and patients behind their backs…

Yet everyone liked this kind of person.

Zhao Ta hated this hospital deeply, truly hated it.

But what could he do about it?

He couldn’t change other people’s preferences, nor could he make others like him.

Zhao Ta said, “If he could have recognized his own level and been content to quietly remain as someone else’s figurehead, perhaps nothing would have happened. But unfortunately, after being flattered for so long, he became arrogant and forgot himself.”

In the hospital, his hands were as renowned as he was disliked. Even after being transferred out of surgery, he would still be called back to help when needed.

Similarly, some experienced senior specialists knew Sun Yi’s weaknesses. They wanted Sun Yi to move into theoretical research, believing he wasn’t suited to remain in surgery. After those prestigious specialists retired, Sun Yi clearly wouldn’t be able to sustain the department.

However, Sun Yi couldn’t accept being overshadowed by Zhao Ta. He believed he should be far above Zhao Ta.

It was this arrogant person with no self-awareness who, during a complex surgical operation, insisted on being the lead surgeon, ultimately resulting in a medical accident that caused the patient to die on the operating table.

Sun Yi had wanted to prove his ability with this operation, while Zhao Ta watched helplessly as the patient lay on the bed and was finally pronounced dead by all the machine readings.

He looked at Sun Yi’s face and found it extremely ridiculous.

The patient’s family didn’t understand the relevant medical knowledge. The hospital told them it was a failed operation with unforeseen complications that led to unsuccessful resuscitation. The family believed it. They were reasonable people who quietly handled the deceased’s affairs and even expressed gratitude to Sun Yi and others.

But Zhao Ta couldn’t accept it—that was a living, breathing human life. He believed the patient’s family had the right to know the truth, and Sun Yi should face appropriate punishment.

Considering the hospital’s reputation, he didn’t immediately expose Sun Yi publicly, but instead requested that hospital senior management discipline Sun Yi by transferring him away from surgery.

Sun Yi panicked. Using a proposal to change medications, he stirred up conflict between Zhao Ta and the hospital.

Hospital relationships were not simple, and no one could escape the influence of money.

Sun Yi approached several administrators, trying to use Mr. Ye’s medical dispute incident to drive Zhao Ta out of the hospital.

But Sun Yi was still uneasy. He felt that as long as Zhao Ta remained, he would eventually return to the medical field.

Zhao Ta was young and impulsive, warning everyone that he would expose all the behind-the-scenes dealings.

This completely angered Sun Yi, who resorted to desperate measures and came up with a vicious plan.

He arranged for an AIDS patient to infect Zhao Ta and secretly switched his preventive medication. This way, it could be done silently without anyone discovering the truth behind it.

Sooner or later, Zhao Ta would die.

After discovering the medication switch, Zhao Ta went to confront Sun Yi. In the end, partly intentional and partly accidental, he ran into the scalpel in Sun Yi’s hand.

This way, Sun Yi would be a murderer and would be punished for it for the rest of his life. That’s what Zhao Ta thought.

However, Sun Yi staged his body to look like a suicide. The suicide motive seemed plausible, and the hospital, not wanting to cause trouble, cooperated with this narrative during the investigation, so the case was hastily closed.

After death, Zhao Ta’s unresolved grievance kept his soul lingering in the hospital. Later, he met Zong Ce.

Seeing him wandering in the hospital, unable to move on, Zong Ce said, “I’ll help you get revenge.”

Using Maoshan techniques, she transported the souls of Mr. Ye and the patient. She told Zhao Ta that if he wanted revenge, he could have it now.

Zhao Ta cut open their chests with a scalpel, wanting to see their hearts. But out of a doctor’s instinct, he regretted it afterward and sewed the wounds back up.

When Zong Ce brought Sun Yi’s soul over, she suddenly had a change of heart.

Looking at the struggling, cursing, crying, and finally pleading figure, she thought of the person she hated most in life.

“He ruined your life…” Zong Ce suddenly said, “Why not take his life in return? From now on, money, power, status—you’ll have it all. Your life can continue. And he will truly pay for his actions.”

Zong Ce was pleased with her idea. Although she would lose a soul she could control, she preferred watching these putrid people die in the most painful way possible.

“When a life cannot be repaid with another life, the world is already unfair. Humans always inexplicably focus on the human rights of criminals—is the life of the one who died less valuable? Such unequal treatment is truly a desecration of life, isn’t it?”

…….

“That’s the whole story. So, how do you want to deal with me?”

Jiang Feng didn’t move, but sighed regretfully and asked, “Don’t you regret it? You did so much good and saved so many lives while you were alive. If you had gone to the underworld after death, you surely would have been reborn into a good life in your next incarnation. But now, with your soul fractured like this, when Sun Yi’s physical body dies, you’ll be completely destroyed.”

Sun Yi smiled slightly. “I don’t regret it. Who would I be in the next life? He wouldn’t remember me, and I wouldn’t remember him—we would just be two strangers. I don’t accept the notion of ‘everyone has their predetermined fate.’ If this is my fate, why do they have a different one? I don’t know what punishment Sun Yi will face after death, I only know that I don’t want to watch the Sun Yi of this life succeed and eventually enjoy his later years.”

Jiang Feng: “You could go to the underworld and appeal to King Yama.”

“I don’t need others to avenge me; it’s not the same. If possible, I would rather take revenge myself—that’s my obsession. I want them to pay the price now, not a moment later. The people who killed me—why shouldn’t I kill them back?”

Zong Ce spoke with a strange tone from the side. “I know, you’re the high and mighty Judge. You won’t understand or approve of the thoughts of us insects.”

Jiang Feng shot her a cold glance. “The only reason I haven’t dealt with you yet isn’t because I can’t. You’d better sit quietly and keep your mouth shut.”

Zong Ce didn’t seem to care. She leaned back in her chair, swinging her legs and letting her eyes wander.

“Actually, like everyone who has suffered abuse but can only watch as the perpetrator serves a light sentence and then returns to society, they all want to kill their enemies with their own hands. But because of social and family ties, they have no choice but to submit to the court’s judgment and follow social and legal order. But I’m different. I’m just a ghost—I don’t need to worry about implicating others, so what I want most is revenge. No matter how many other options you give me, I would still choose this path. I know it’s wrong and unacceptable for the overall order. So when I did it, I was already prepared to bear the consequences. I can accept whatever happens.”

Sun Yi smiled calmly and said, “I won’t regret it; this is my own choice. And now there’s no turning back. I still have the rest of my life.”

He paused, then asked, “Do I still have that?”

Jiang Feng closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then said, “Considering the good deeds you did in life, I will allow you to continue living in Sun Yi’s body for the rest of his life.”

Sun Yi: “Thank you.”

Jiang Feng then looked at Zong Ce, not knowing how to deal with her.

Surprisingly, he couldn’t find Zong Ce’s name in the Register of Merits and Demerits. Originally, when her natural lifespan ended, she should have fallen under the underworld’s jurisdiction, but now she had become a person outside of all authority.

“I’m not afraid of you coming to capture me. This area is full of formations; my soul can escape at any time. If you want this physical body, take it. Besides, Judges never kill, right? I’m still alive, so I’m not under the underworld’s jurisdiction. And I haven’t broken any laws in the mortal world. Neither the underworld nor the mortal world can do anything to me. What can you do? Or do you want to make an exception and kill me?”

“You can try and see,” Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow. “It’s not that I don’t kill people; I just don’t like to kill.”

Zong Ce rested her chin on her hand and said, “There’s no trace of my name in the Register of Merits and Demerits, did you know that?”

Jiang Feng asked, “The fake Judge’s Brush—where did you get it?”

“I didn’t make the fake Judge’s Brush; I stole it,” Zong Ce said. “From a Taoist family with the surname Feng. They made several brushes. The one you let escape before—that was him.”

Zong Ce tilted her head back, clicking her tongue. “He’s been alive for a long time; I don’t even know how many years. Do you remember him?”

Jiang Feng carefully recalled and only vaguely remembered such a figure.

It was probably the one who had tried to take the little Mountain God’s primordial spirit.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember; I’ll find him soon and kill him,” Zong Ce said. “It doesn’t matter if you want to kill me; I don’t have many years left anyway. Once I die, my soul will be completely destroyed, and you’ll never see me again.”

Zong Ce was probably like Sun Yi, with a composite soul. And Zong Ce was even more extreme—she was so chaotic that the name of her original self couldn’t be found. Her magic power was extremely advanced, but she was using it by consuming her life force.

Jiang Feng no longer understood. “What exactly are you trying to achieve?”

“For…” Zong Ce thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “To maintain world peace? Do you think that’s possible?”

Her smile disappeared as her face darkened. “Of course it’s for revenge.”

She tilted her head back, looking at the ceiling. “As long as that beast Old Taoist Feng is still alive, that’s the greatest meaning of my existence in this world. How could I let him go while he’s still not dead?”

Zong Ce said, “Only I can find him. Why don’t you leave me alone for now? When I discover his whereabouts, I’ll tell you. How about that?”

Jiang Feng sneered. “So I should let you go and allow you to continue killing?”

“Then I won’t kill anymore.”

“Do you think I would believe that?”

Zong Ce rubbed her fingers. “But compared to the people I’ve killed, he has killed many more, and I only kill bad people, while he kills innocent ones. Between two evils, choose the lesser one—isn’t it best to let us fight each other? Judge, the knife is in your hands; think carefully.”

The room fell silent.

After a long while, Jiang Feng made his decision and stood up. “I’ll have someone watch you. If I find you trying to kill again, I’ll kill you directly.”

Zong Ce smiled without arguing.