The Great Medical Saint

Upon spotting Hannah Fritz, Tony furrowed his brows. "You look familiar. Who are you again?"

Hannah eagerly replied, "Back when I was recovering from childbirth, my hands were always cold, and the hospital couldn't do anything about it. You came by to teach the three young Carlings about acupuncture. After giving me the acupuncture treatment, you fixed my problem. Does that ring a bell?"

The memories came back to Tony. "I remember now. Long time no see. You've put on a bit of weight."

Frowning, Colin turned to Hannah and asked, "Do you know him, Mrs. Cowan? Was he telling the truth?"

He still found it hard to believe that Tony had actually trained three people into medical experts.

Hannah responded with a smile, "Everything he said is true, Mr. Slater. He's the brother of Mr. Jay Carling. The three young Carlings learned under him. He's a legitimate and experienced traditional medicine practitioner."

Feeling even more confident, Tony snapped at Colin, "You clueless idiot! Now, you've verified that those three good-for-nothings were all my students, right?"

Colin felt humiliated. He was about to walk off, but Tony's snide remarks made him furious.

"Who are you calling an idiot, you old geezer? This is an exclusive neighborhood, and you don't belong here. Get lost!"

Tony coldly remarked, "I'm looking for Jay. Why do I have to leave?"

Colin's mouth twitched. "You've been shouting forever. Why isn't Jay answering? He's living large overseas with three kids, a mansion, and fancy cars. They're doing way better than you and gave up on calling you family long ago."

"As if he'd dare!" Tony angrily yelled.

But there was still no response from the yard. Getting anxious, Tony turned to Matthew. "Break down the gate."

Matthew didn't stop them from arguing, thinking the noise would catch Jay's attention. Even at this point, nobody came out, so he ran out of patience.

He kicked the front gate hard. With a snap, the gate burst open.

Tony stomped into the yard, grumbling in exasperation, "I've been too nice, haven't I? Do you think you're a big shot just because your kids are abroad? Get out here. You're asking for it."

Colin snickered. It was clear as day Jay didn't welcome Tony, or Jay would've opened the door. Yet Tony still had the nerve to barge into the yard. Curious to see how things would go, Colin followed behind as they went inside.

Matthew stayed close behind Tony as they reached the door, but no one came to open it. He even started wondering if Jay had gone out.

He hinted to Tony, "Jay might not be home. Should we wait?"

Standing beside them, Hannah chimed in, "The front door's been shut all day, so he must be home."

After saying that, she realized it didn't come across well, so she added, "The household staff took some time off recently. Maybe he's just too old and is too deeply asleep to hear us."

Did Jay seriously not hear them?

Tony huffed, "We're making a racket loud enough to bring down the roof. He'd have to be dead not to hear it. That punk is just refusing to see me!"

Colin scoffed. His son was over in Eastoria. His less well-off relatives mocked him for sending his son there to be of service to others when he couldn't even take care of his own retirement.

To him, those poorer relatives were jealous of him. Now, he felt Tony was just like them with the "sour grapes" attitude.

Tony threw a fit, but no one opened the door, so he called out to Matthew, "Let's break in."

Matthew kicked the door right away. With a bang, the door swung open.

Tony cursed as he stepped inside. "Did you die in there, you scumbag? Can't you hear me..."

He trailed off mid-sentence. The sight of the living room filled his face with horror.noveldrama

Matthew, Colin, and Hannah came in behind Tony. Seeing what was on the couch in shock and fear, they felt their skin crawl.

A bloody, mangled body was sprawled on the couch, with flies buzzing around it. The body was crawling with maggots writhing in dense clusters. The stench of decay filled the air.