Chapter 7

Shawn drove away from the university.

He drove aimlessly. The June weather was scorching hot, yet his heart was ice-cold.

Memories of his wife played in his mind. Now, they seemed like a joke.

Without realizing it, he arrived at New City Avenue. It was a developing area, still under construction, so there were few people and few cars.

Suddenly, his car shook. Shawn instinctively braked.

He got out to check. A van had rear-ended him.

His rear bumper was broken. When it rains, it pours. He was already feeling down, and now he had to deal with this problem too.

"Can you even drive? You think you own the road just because you're driving an Audi? How can you drive 25 on the main road? You don't have money for gas or something? Screw you!"

The driver was a middle-aged man who wore sunglasses. He was fat and mean-looking, with a thick gold chain around his neck.

He got out and checked the vehicles, then pointed at Shawn and started cursing, spitting saliva everywhere.

"Watch your mouth."

Shawn frowned, his voice cold.

"Alright, how are we going to settle this? I'm not asking for much. Pay me $2,000, and we'll call it even." The van driver sized him up and said.

"In your dreams! Let me lay it out for you. You rear-ended me. You should be paying me," Shawn said.

"Heh, I don't care. Pay me. I'm telling you, you're not leaving if you don't pay," the van driver said arrogantly.

Shawn was so furious he laughed, "You rear-ended me, so it's entirely your fault. This is a waste of time. I'm calling the cops."

He took out his phone to call the cops.

"How dare you! You wanna die? Screw you!"

Without hesitation, the van driver reached out and pushed Shawn, dropping his phone on the ground.

Shawn was furious. He punched the van driver in the face. The sunglasses shattered instantly, and the middle-aged driver stumbled back with a grunt.

Shawn followed up. He twisted the van driver's arm and pinned him against the van's hood.

But he didn't notice that the van door had quietly opened, and five men with metal bars had gotten out of the van.

"You son of a… kill me if you dare. Go on, or I'll kill you, you..."

The van driver was pinned down, unable to move. His face was pressed against the hood, but he kept cursing.

Shawn's expression hardened. He exerted more force, and the van driver's arm dislocated.

He screamed, "Aah! It's broken, it's broken! It hurts! What are you guys waiting for?"

After the van driver said that, Shawn saw a shadow in the corner of his eye. Shocked, he looked up, but it was too late.

Bang!

A bar hit him hard on the back of the head. He felt a sharp pain, and the world spun. Shawn's vision went black, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Dang, this guy's strong."

The van driver shook his neck and stood up. His arm was dangling, his expression dark. He kicked Shawn furiously.

"Alright, let's get to work."

The man swung the metal bar at Shawn's leg without hesitation.

Crack!

Shawn's face twisted in pain...

-

When Shawn woke up, the white ceiling and the various machines he saw told him that he was in the hospital. He instinctively tried to prop himself up.

However, he realized to his horror that he couldn't feel anything below his knees!

"Hey, don't move. You just had surgery."

A nurse, seeing that he was awake, said quickly.

Shawn moved his mouth, his voice hoarse, "Surgery... what surgery? And what happened to my legs?"

The nurse sighed and looked at him with pity. She said, "You should hear it from your family. I hope you're prepared."

Shawn couldn't accept it. His voice trembling, he asked, "What happened? Please tell me."

The nurse shook her head and walked away.

Shawn's face turned pale. He had a terrible guess in his mind, and he was terrified.

He surveyed the room. It was a private ward with a bathroom and various machines that made sounds.

This kind of special care room was clearly expensive.

There was only one person who could put him in here.

Urgent footsteps approached, and the door swung open. A beautiful figure walked in.

It was his wife, Crystal.

"Honey, you're finally awake. You... you don't know how worried I was."

Crystal rushed to him, her eyes red, tears streaming down her face.

Shawn stared at the ceiling, his eyes blank, and spoke as if he was talking to himself, "What did the doctors say?"

Crystal swallowed, grabbed his hand, and said, "Don't ask. You need rest..."

"Tell me!"

Shawn interrupted, furious, his right hand tightening. His emotions teetered on the edge of losing control.

"You... you're hurting me."

"Tell me!"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Crystal sobbed even harder. She said, "The doctors said you suffered a comminuted fracture in both your legs. The surgery could only clean up the shattered bones..."

Shawn found it hard to believe, but he had no choice but to face it. He asked, trembling: "Can... can it be cured?"

Crystal shook her head. "It can't. The doctors recommend amputation. Otherwise, the legs will die and affect other parts as well..."

Amputation!

Shawn's mind went blank. Crystal's words stabbed his heart like sharp knives.

His face turned ashen, as if he'd lost all his strength.

'I'm only 29. My life has just begun. Am I going to become a cripple?'

Shawn shuddered, finding reality unbearably cruel. Unable to cope, he gazed dazedly up at the ceiling, his eyes dull with despair. He felt utterly lifeless.

Just then, his wife stood up sharply. She wiped away her tears, though her eyes were still red.

She said, "I don't care who did this, I'm gonna get revenge for you."

After saying that, she couldn't bear to look at Shawn, so she left the ward.

Shawn turned his head, watching her disappear from sight. He forced a smile.

Crystal, will you really get revenge for me?

He had a pretty good guess why this happened to him. It was clearly premeditated.

New City Avenue was a newly developed area, with few monitors. The stretch of road where the incident happened didn't have any.

It was a very empty road. Cars were far and few between. It was really hard to get rear-ended by someone.

That van was there for him.

And he could say for sure that someone orchestrated this behind the scenes.