"Miss Makima wants to see me?" Su Tang looked at Aki in puzzlement.
"Yes. Miss Makima is the chief of Public Safety Division 4 and my direct superior." Aki nodded. "On the phone she said she wants to talk in detail about Pawa's usage protocol and techniques."
Hearing her name, Pawa zipped over.
She looked at Su Tang, then at Aki, and blurted:
"What is it? Something about yours truly again?"
From her carefree bearing, you'd never guess she'd just taken on a 2.5-million-yen debt.
Su Tang and Aki tacitly chose to ignore her.
"Usage protocol and techniques?" Su Tang turned the phrasing over; it felt loaded with questionable implications. Considering that the party in question—well, the party-devil—was right here, he didn't have Aki spell it out. He just nodded his agreement.
"Okay. If there's time, I'll be in touch with you."
Taking the Public Safety contact number Aki handed over, Su Tang glanced down at it and slipped it into his coat pocket.
"When do the compensation funds arrive?" That was what Su Tang cared about.
"Public Safety's efficiency is reliable." Aki raised his wrist to check the time and said to Su Tang, "Once the paperwork is complete, it'll hit the clinic's credit account within two hours. Mm, and Mr. Su Tang, please present your medical license."
"Medical license? Why do I still need to show something like that?" Su Tang's face twitched, but he quickly returned to normal and laughed it off: "Because—what an unfortunate coincidence—it got damaged just now while I was fighting a devil. You know how it is: devils always do things that make no sense, haha…"
Pawa folded her arms, slanted a look at Su Tang, and snorted with a laugh.
"See? Didn't I say so? Despicable humans really do love lying and cheating!"
No one paid her any attention.
Perhaps getting bored, Pawa pouted and went off to romp someplace else.
Aki Hayakawa glanced at Pawa's retreating back, then turned his head back to Su Tang and nodded. "I understand. It's just that presenting documents is a necessary procedure… Tell you what: I'll vouch for you first. Once you've reissued your medical license, just bring it to Public Safety to file."
"Thanks for understanding." Su Tang smiled and let out a breath.
Looking at this topknot-wearing, ever-earnest man, he couldn't help thinking there really are more good people than bad in the world.
A handsome guy with a tragic past who's gentle and knows how to bend—this "mom-type" man would surely get a happy ending in novels, anime, or film.
May good people have peace all their lives.
Time quickly rolled around to the afternoon.
"Phew. They finally left."
Su Tang exhaled lightly and stretched.
Public Safety people, the police, the courts, even the bereaved who'd come upon hearing the news to claim the legs of the dead… in short, his little clinic had been bustling for nearly four or five hours before it finally calmed down.
Though he was a bit tired after being put through the wringer all morning, quite a few people had learned about his little clinic because of this.
Fame +5, get?
That put Su Tang in a great mood. He resolved that if everyone came again next time, he'd give a ten-percent discount across the board!
Of course, he didn't say that out loud. He was afraid of getting beaten up.
Seated, he poured himself a cup of hot water and took a hearty sip.
He checked his watch. It was three in the afternoon.
Later, the Public Safety logistics department would come to destroy the devil blood to prevent any random contamination from spreading. Those were highly specialized procedures. Su Tang wasn't interested and wouldn't understand them anyway, so he planned to leave the clinic for a bit.
Not only for that reason—the main thing was that something he'd ordered had reached its pickup time.
Yes, the medical license.
Walking out of the clinic, Su Tang shut the door but didn't lock it—not because he had too much faith in Tokyo's "good public order," but because Public Safety's cordon was still set up outside.
In Tokyo, anywhere bearing the Public Safety emblem means there's a devil; anyone not eager to reopen soon will steer clear and avoid it like the plague.
Checking a message on his phone, Su Tang muttered:
"They actually picked such a remote place to make the handoff?"
It was technically still in Tokyo proper, but… you could call it very outer ring.
Which was fine—the more remote, the less likely to be discovered. From the choice of location alone, you could tell the other side had a high degree of professional literacy.
That's called professionalism!
Yes—Su Tang's medical license wasn't obtained by taking exams through the health authorities; he'd commissioned the local gang to make one.
It wasn't that he didn't want to test, nor that he couldn't—he had relevant experience before transmigrating. If it were only a basic license, a few days' review should do. The main issue was that there wasn't enough time.
How many days had it been since he came from San Francisco to Tokyo? At most not even half a month. Add in choosing the clinic location and interior renovations… there simply wasn't much spare time.
More important, test dates were fixed each year, and the first-half session had just passed; wait any longer and it would be the second half.
So Su Tang planned to get a fake through the gang and then take the real exam next time—get on the train first, buy the ticket later.
As for why he didn't have the Black Hand get one for him…
The Black Hand may be an "international criminal organization" that can move about the world, but that doesn't mean they have branches everywhere. Even a mighty dragon can't suppress the local snake. Su Tang figured this was more reliable handled by a local outfit.
Half an hour later, Su Tang got out of a taxi.
This looked like a small town on Tokyo's outskirts; at this hour, there was barely a soul on the street.
He widened his eyes and looked around, and immediately spotted the white sedan mentioned in the text.
It was parked by the curb; the driver seemed to be talking to someone.
As Su Tang drew closer, the scene became clearer.
A girl with uneven, short blond hair, around sixteen or seventeen, with a black eyepatch over one eye as if there were some problem.
Her fair skin was smudged with dust and dirt; the gray-black jacket she wore was patched over and over—clearly a life of poverty.
Most eye-catching was the mouthful of sharp, shark-like teeth.
Pretty white, too.
Su Tang gave her a glance, then let his gaze fall.
Beside the girl was a tiny orange "dog" with a chainsaw growing from its head…
No—that was a devil!
Su Tang narrowed his eyes slightly and slid a hand into the inner pocket of his jacket.
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Chainsaw Man: The Covenant of Flame Demon [ 71 Chapter ]