After work, Lin Wan joined them. They shared another meal together. Zhao Xiaodao then headed straight to the airport, while Deng Paopao and his wife said their goodbyes and left.
Lu Zheng and Lin Wan drove home together.
“How’s that case going now?” Lu Zheng asked with genuine interest. “Still investigating?”
Lin Wan stretched her legs out in front, settling comfortably. “They’ve chased nothing but dead ends.”
“That area in northern Myanmar is a lawless zone. A few people died, but other factions immediately filled the vacuum. There’ll be chaos for a while, yet no one will let Interpol or government agencies investigate comfortably.”
Lin Wan continued, “All they can do is dig online and interrogate the criminals still scattered in various countries. What real information can they get from that? So the various nations and Interpol only have vague guesses. They can’t uncover anything solid.”
“There are still guesses?” Lu Zheng asked with a laugh. “What kind?”
“One is that their rivals paid mercenaries to do it.” Lin Wan said, “That was my original thought too. There are a few truly formidable mercenary groups out there.”
“The ones I’ve seen in news reports look pretty ordinary.”
“The really dangerous mercenary outfits never make the news.” Lin Wan replied.
“Oh? Such as?”
“Satan Squad, Angel Legion.” Lin Wan listed.
“Never heard of them.”
Lin Wan shot him a sideways glance. “Of course you haven’t. But in official eyes, those people are top-tier threats. If they actually move, their destructive power far exceeds most terrorist groups.”
“Got it. Anything else?”
Lin Wan gave a small snort. “Then there’s the ‘higher-ups’ theory.”
Lu Zheng blinked. “Higher-ups? What higher-ups?”
“You tell me which higher-ups.”
“No way.”
“Think about it. Overnight, six drug lords and local armed leaders are wiped out. Their core guards suffer heavy losses. These people sit just beyond our border and keep flooding the country with narcotics. Every year, plenty of our people die trying to stop those traffickers.”
Lin Wan turned to him. “If it were you, who would you suspect first?”
Lu Zheng answered instantly. “Southwest Falcon took action?”
Lin Wan spread her hands. “See?”
Lu Zheng couldn’t help laughing. “Hah, that’s one massive pot to dump on them!”
“The higher channels have already denied it internally.” Lin Wan said, “Given our country’s consistent upright approach, most international organisations believe it. As for the petty schemers, they hardly matter.”
“Good.” Lu Zheng nodded.
“But it’s still a positive outcome.” Lin Wan smiled. “Those Myanmar armed groups that don’t believe the denial won’t dare openly ship large quantities into the country again for a while.”
“Now you mention it, it really is a good thing.” Lu Zheng blinked. “Shall we find time for another trip?”
Lin Wan laughed softly. “No rush. We’ll wait a bit, see who jumps highest, then decide.”
“Fine!” Lu Zheng nodded, then turned into the underground car park of their estate.
…
Dressing up as special forces turned out to be rather enjoyable in its own way.
…
The next day, after Lin Wan left for work, Lu Zheng was preparing to cross over to the ancient era when he received a message from Deng Paopao.
Deng Paopao: Brother Lu! That wine of yours is simply the finest under heaven!
Lu Zheng: Õ_Õ
Though it was praise, Lu Zheng somehow felt something was off.
I’m not selling that kind of medicine!
…
He crossed over to the ancient era and arrived at Benevolent Heart Hall. There he saw Du Yueyao prescribing medicine to a plump little boy with a rather strange expression.
“Two liang of Epimedium, two liang of deer antler, two liang of cinnamon bark, three liang of prepared rehmannia, three liang of goji berries.
Take these five ingredients, add two sheng of water, boil until reduced to half a sheng, remove the dregs, then simmer down to ten ge. Take two ge daily after meals.”
Du Yueyao pursed her lips, wrote out the prescription, and handed it to the boy. The chubby lad thanked her profusely and went to collect his medicines from the counter.
On his way out he encountered Lu Zheng and nodded with a cheerful smile. “Young Master Lu, good day. The herbs from your clinic really are the most effective!”
Lu Zheng: 눈_눈|||
…
“Dear Lu!”
“Brother Lu!”
Seeing Lu Zheng arrive, both Liu Qingyan and Du Yueyao greeted him, then returned to diagnosing their current patients.
“Where’s Uncle Liu?”
“Father is out on a house call. The elderly master of the Liu family in the northern part of the city is too frail to travel.” Liu Qingyan explained.
“I see.”
Lu Zheng nodded and took Uncle Liu’s seat.
“I’ll lend a hand then. Oh, it’s Officer Duan. How… heh, you’ve simply caught a chill. I’ll prescribe something. Take it faithfully for five days and you’ll be fine!”
With nothing else to do and plenty of patients at Benevolent Heart Hall, Lu Zheng helped out and sped up the consultations.
Soon all the waiting patients had been seen and departed.
When the hall was empty, Liu Qingyan sent the two assistants to rest in the back. The three of them chatted while waiting for Uncle Liu to return.
…
A little later, they did not see Uncle Liu return, but Yan Hongxia and Ao Qi arrived instead.
“Hongxia? Miss Ao?” Liu Qingyan rose quickly to greet them. “What brings you… oh? Miss Ao is injured?”
Liu Qingyan was startled.
Ao Qi possessed a thousand years of cultivation, and Yan Hongxia beside her was no weakling either. Together, they should be safe travelling anywhere. How could she be hurt?
“Corpse qi?” Du Yueyao spotted the nature of Ao Qi’s injury at a glance. “A ghostly creature?”
Yan Hongxia nodded. “A rather powerful seductive corpse. It emerged from the underworld to hunt for masculine essence and ran straight into us.”
Du Yueyao blinked, looking puzzled. “Seductive corpse? Hunt for masculine essence?”
“It means she seeks men to drain their yang energy.” Yan Hongxia explained bluntly.
Du Yueyao understood instantly.
“What happened to that seductive corpse?” Lu Zheng asked.
“I pierced her with my spear and gravely injured her vital essence. She fled back to the underworld.” Ao Qi said.
Lu Zheng gave a thumbs up. “Impressive!”
Ao Qi shook her head, clearly dissatisfied. “That seductive corpse was only about as strong as the old zombie from last time, yet I failed to kill her.”
The previous old zombie had only a few centuries of cultivation. One-on-one it was no match for any of them, and when the three surrounded it, it had died very easily.
This time, facing a similarly powerful seductive corpse, not only had it escaped, but Ao Qi had sustained some injury. Naturally she was unhappy.
Liu Qingyan comforted her. “Ghostly beings are hard to kill. Letting it flee back to the underworld is normal. Besides, didn’t you gravely injure its essence too?”
Yan Hongxia nodded. “Indeed. Ao Qi’s spear went straight through its abdomen. Dragon power entered its body. It won’t be able to emerge and cause harm for at least fifty years.”
“That’s still very good, isn’t it?”
Liu Qingyan smiled and nodded. Seeing no one around, she opened her mouth and expelled the red pill from her body.
As Liu Qingyan’s cultivation deepened, and with her daily practice of the Crimson Pine’s Left Precepts of Jade Water Elixir Scripture plus constant medicine preparation and pill refining, her Hundred Herbs Red Pill now carried an even richer medicinal fragrance and astonishing potency.
The moment it appeared, Ao Qi felt the yin qi in her body disperse rapidly. In the blink of an eye, a small portion of her injuries had already healed.
