"Hey, Uncle. Is anything going on over there?" the person on the other end of the call asked as soon as the call connected.
Stan blinked his eyes, neither struggling nor making a sound.
The caller waited for a response and asked again, "Did the plan go through over there? Say something!"
It was still silent.
The caller muttered to himself when he heard no sound, "Darn it, what rotten luck. He didn't even put his phone away properly while sleeping. What's going on? Those two haven't called either."
As the man complained, he hung up the call.
Luke's eyes darkened as the words of the caller confirmed what Stan had said.
The phone in his hand rang again.
Luke glanced at it. It was still Stan's nephew calling.
He probably wanted to know what was going on over here.
Luke set the phone aside, letting it ring incessantly. He turned to look at Luca.
"So what do we do now?" asked Luca. She had doubts about Stan's identity before. It was only because Luke really needed her that she decided to follow him down.
She thought if it was someone from the Island of Despair, it would be best to hand them over to Gale.
After all, few on the Island of Despair were innocent.
However, it was evident that Stan was not from the Island of Despair. However, he had seen Luke and her pressuring him together. This was definitely not something they wanted others to know.
Otherwise, both she and Luke would be in trouble.
Luca was in a dilemma.
Stan had not done anything wrong. He was mainly just keeping an eye on Luke. He was involved in this incident, but a case like this could simply be handed over to the police. There was no need to involve Gale.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEven though Luca had learned to be ruthless on the Island of Despair, she could not bring herself to act against someone who had not harmed her much. She was also not the type to turn against one's own family.
Clearly, Luke felt the same.
He could just eradicate the Island of Despair and send the bad guys to prison, but he could not bring himself to do anything to Stan.
Stan was not from the Island of Despair. At most, he was being used by people from the Island of Despair.
This incident could simply be handled by taking Stan to the police station. There was no need to complicate things.
However, taking Stan to the police station would also give Stan a chance to explain tonight's events to those people.
Luke's voice was hoarse as he asked, "Do you have a solution?"
"I do." Luca suddenly had a thought, but she was not entirely sure if it would work.
Luke nodded. "What is it?"
"I've seen a set of dry needling techniques before that can make someone forget what happened in the past few days. It's like a form of amnesia, and there's no way for them to recall it.
"If successful, even if Shanks realizes something's off, there's no way for Stan to remember today's events," explained Luca.
"Then let's do it," replied Luke. For Stan, forgetting what had happened these past few days might be the best outcfor him.
After all, it was much better than being imprisoned by Gale for a lifetime.
"But I haven't tried it before, so I can't guarantee it'll work." Luca hesitated. When she cacross it back then, she did not think the technique was necessary, so she just memorized it without experimenting with it.
Plus, the assassins on the Island of Despair would not let her experiment.
As for the captives, Luca could not bring herself to experiment on them either.
"What if it doesn't work?" Luke frowned. He was curious about such a technique.
There was no modern medical practice like this, so it must have been passed down from ancient times.
How much did Shanks, from the Island of Despair, really know?
Luca took a deep breath and said, "If it fails, the person being needled will fall into a vegetative state."
Luke frowned. A vegetative state?
Stan had been quietly listening to their conversation. He knew they had something to hide and wanted to erase his memory.
He was terrified but still listened to them without making a scene.
It was not until Luca mentioned the possibility of falling into a vegetative that he immediately widened his eyes and kept kicking the bed with his legs.
Luke frowned, thinking that Stan should not be subjected to that. He asked Luca, "Is there any other way?"
Luca shook her head. "It's too late for anything else now. There's actually a potion that can cause shortterm amnesia, but developing it takes time. The purification process alone takes at least a week, and we don't have that much time."
After saying this, she turned to look at Stan.
They had two choices to deal with Stan.
They could imprison Stan and only release him when the situation on the Island of Despair had been resolved. However, once he was released, there was no guarantee he would not expose them.
After all, imprisoning someone was illegal.
The other choice was to needle him.
"How confident are you?" asked Luke. He had no choice but to rely on Luca.
He never imagined that he would one day have to rely on her to help solve a problem.
"70%," answered Luca. "If the needling is successful, we also need to leave a wound on his head to avoid suspicion."
People did not lose their memory for no reason. That was why they could only use a head injury as an excuse to explain it.
Luke nodded. He knew Luca could not make the decision now, so he had to make it himself.
"Let's do it. It's still better than handing him over to Gale," said Luke.
Luca nodded and watched as Stan continued to struggle. She pricked two needles into his body. Soon, Stan closed his eyes.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe explained, "I'm just calming him down so that I can needle him properly."
"Okay." Luke nodded and walked over to Luca. "Don't worry, I'm here."
Luca nodded, though she wanted to say that Luke could not help her with this.
After all, if she accidentally turned Stan into a vegetable by administering these needles, it would definitely leave a mark on her conscience.
She might even hesitate to administer needles to people in the future.
However, there was no way around it. She had to bite the bullet and proceed.
Luca picked up the needle and began to prick the first acupoint. Then cthe second needle and the third...
Each needle was pricked into the memory area of the brain. After a total of 18 needles, she finally let out a sigh of relief and said, "I'll remove the needles in five minutes. By then, we'll know the outcome."
"You administered the needles very steadily. There shouldn't be any problem," Luke reassured her.
Luca gave him a faint smile but remained silent.
She was particularly careful when inserting the needles because of the risks involved. Steadiness was the first requirement.
Five minutes later, Luca removed the needles.
After taking out all 18 needles, she also removed the needle that induced temporary sleep for Stan.
They both waited.
Their gazes were fixed on Stan's face, waiting for him to wake up.
However, a minute passed, and Stan still had not woken up.
Luca furrowed her brows tightly. Did she fail?
Luke, I... I really did my best..." As Luca spoke, her figure swayed.
Luke placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to offer her support. "Luca, maybe he has just passed out from shock. Perform the sdry needling technique earlier and he should wake up soon."
Luca took a deep breath. She thought she had made a mistake in administering the needles, causing Stan to fall into unconsciousness. As Luke's words echoed in her ears, she felt herself falling into a daze.