Chapter 77 - Killing Intent
OKAY SO I HAVE STOCK NOW THERE WONT BE ANY DISAPPEARANCES FROM NOW ON, THOUGH CHAPTER 78 IS UNEDITED MY EDITORS GOING THROUGH A SCHEDULE CHANGE AT THE MOMENT
SORRY
"Uncle Chu, may I get back to school now, if we're done?" Lin Yi had said what he wanted to say- the rest was up to the chairman himself.
"Yes, you do that." Chu Pengzhan said with a nod. "Don't mention any of this to Yao Yao, I don't want her to worry."
"I won't." Lin Yi promised, standing up as he turned to the door.
"Li Fu, why don't you drive Lin Yi to school?" Pengzhan ordered.
"Yes, Mister Chu." Li Fu said with a bow of his head.
"It's fine- I'll just get a taxi." Lin Yi responded immediately, preferring Li Fu not to tag along as he shopped for medicine. Some things were better off kept secret.
"I see." Pengzhan didn't see any reason for him to insist. "I'll leave Yao Yao's safety in your care while I deal with the problem."
"Yeah." Lin Yi waved as he left. "My real mission's related to the Miss- I won't let anything happen to her before that starts. Leave it to me, Uncle Chu."
Pengzhan nodded in response, letting out a faint sigh as Lin Yi disappeared. He had thought of Lin Yi as lucky for the whole arrangement, but the guy didn't seem very keen on Mengyao. The chairman decided to just follow his father's wishes, not sure of what he was planning.
"Li Fu, contact the administration department later- set the meeting room up. We're having a board of directors meeting this afternoon!" Pengzhan not insisting on having Li Fu drive Lin Yi was also due to this: He had things he needed Li Fu to help arrange.
"Very well, Mister Chu." Li Fu nodded in compliance, leaving the room quickly. Pengzhan had an official secretary, but certain things were too risky to just reveal to her- it had to be someone absolutely trusted, like Li Fu. It was because of this fact that Li Fu was sometimes seen as Pengzhan's unofficial secretary.
Lin Yi got himself a taxi moments after leaving the building.
"Where you headed, kid?" The driver asked.
"Do you know any Eastern medicine wholesale outlets?" Lin Yi asked in turn, taking advantage of the living map before him. He hadn't familiarized himself with Songshan yet.
"Oh, are you looking for the raw roots and branches type, or the finished medicines?"
"Ah…" Lin Yi chuckled silently upon hearing the descriptions. Like most people, the driver viewed Eastern medicine as branches and roots. "The raw type."
Lin Yi didn't bother correcting or educating the driver- it was all the same as long as the two understood each other. The man wasn't a professional or expert, after all.
"You'll probably have to go to the market in Qiaonan, if we're talking wholesale." The driver explained. "It's not in the city, and it'll take like half a day until we get there. You can always go to the larger pharmacies around here if it's the same to you."
Lin Yi gave up on the wholesale market after hearing the words- there was no rush, after all. It didn't matter too much if he went to a pharmacy instead. "I'll settle with one of those large pharmacies then."
"Gotcha." The driver started the car.
The taxi stopped in front of a pharmacy a couple of turns later. Lin Yi noticed that the meter was still at the starting price- the guy hadn't taken any detours or longways.
Lin Yi paid the fare, and thanked the driver before getting off.
Lin Yi was taken aback by the scene as soon as he stepped in the pharmacy. The medicine industry was highly profitable no matter what the era was it seemed- the place was absolutely packed with people, even on a workday.
Thankfully, what Lin Yi was looking for was Eastern herbs, and most people didn't shop for those kinds of things that much. He handed his list of varying items to the shop a.s.sistant. Lin Yi expected it to take a while; there was the weighing to take into consideration, as well. He walked around the pharmacy as he waited.
"Golden Creation Medicine." A voice sounded from nearby, catching Lin Yi's attention.
Golden Creation? Lin Yi was stunned, not expecting medicine like that to still exist.
The 'gold' referred to the metals required for weaponsmithing, and weapons were the prime cause for injury back in ancient times. 'Creation', on the other hand, referred to the wounds created by the weapons. Golden Creation Medicine dealt with injuries caused by metal, applying hemostatic, a.n.a.lgesic, and anti-inflammatory effects.
Yet the name was an ancient one- the term shouldn't have been used anymore.
"Sorry, we're out of that." One of the shop a.s.sistants replied blankly.
Lin Yi took a look at who the customer was, spotting a girl in black clothing with a navy cap obscuring her face. She didn't say much after the a.s.sistant's answer, only turning and leaving the pharmacy in response. Lin Yi noticed some staggering in the girl's steps…
He moved his gaze downward to her feet- the girl was leaving a fresh trail of blood behind her, evidently sourcing from a wound in her leg! There was, however, a large crowd of people currently occupying the pharmacy, and it didn't take long before dozens of footsteps smeared the trail away.
After all, the first reason Lin Yi paid attention to the girl at all was because of the Golden Creation Medicine being mentioned, and second was the killing intent coming from her…
Killing intent was an interesting thing- it was a sort of signal animals sent out when attacking each other, a signal that could only be sensed through a 'sixth sense'.
An experiment was once carried out regarding the concept of killing intent: a wild cat and rat were trapped inside a box in the jungle, separated from each other with two soundproof boards. The boards wasn't placed far from each other, and they blocked off any stench or scent, straightforwardly preventing the two from sighting each other, as well. The cat seemed to have sensed something from the other side of the boards as the experiment carried out- it promptly tried to get to the other side by scratching at the board. The rat, on the other hand, started cowering away from the boards, evidently sensing the presence of the cat.
Just how did the two creatures feel the other's presence?
Scientists explained it as a sixth sense, meaning the animals weren't using their sense of smell, hearing, or sight- it was a signal that animals sent each other when facing their natural enemy, or when an animal was attacking with the full intent to kill. This signal was what became known as 'killing intent'.
Humans had this sixth sense, as well. The sixth sense of the humans, however, have devolved as a result of their long time away from nature, only remaining in those with exceptional senses. It could be seen from veteran soldiers who felt the presence of an enemy's ambush, or in the hunters who spent the entirety of their lives in jungles. Having the sixth sense stimulated was possible for those who put their life on the line on a daily basis..
Chapter 78 - Not Doing Anything
Normal people wouldn't have noticed the killing intent coming off from the girl, but Lin Yi did the same work as the girl did- he had that sixth sense in this regard, clearly sensing the killing intent.
But the girl wasn't yet aware of this.
Lin Yi was capable of near perfectly concealing his killing intent after his years of intense training, and only a very minimal amount of people have reached the level in which Lin Yi hid his presence.
Shaking his head, Lin Yi decided to leave the girl be- her apparel obviously served the purpose of laying low in the crowd- the girl didn't want anyone bothering her when on a mission, even if it was someone from the same profession. Lin Yi also understood the possibility of the two of them working for opposing organizations, as well.
"Scuse me, can you tell me what Golden Creation Medicine is?" Lin Yi asked one of the a.s.sistatns.
The a.s.sistant looked at Lin Yi as if he was an idiot, as if the question was so ridiculously naive she couldn't believe it. Her answer didn't seem very enthusiastic. "Obviously surgical medicine that heals wounds. We're out of those."
Lin Yi smiled bitterly in response, thinking that the medicine was probably a recently invented one. Very poular too, it seemed.
The a.s.sistant didn't care much about Lin Yi's question, but someone else was. An old woman started explaining to Lin Yi right after he turned away from the a.s.sistant, pa.s.sionately interested in answering his question.
"Young man, you don't even know about Golden Creation? You must know of the Dr Kang, the miracle doctor of Eastern medicine, don't you? He was the best in his field!" The old lady started detailing information about Doctor Kang. "Golden Creation Medicine is something that Doctor Kang made, a fast healing medicine that completely heals the wound- most importantly not leaving any scars behind! Amazing, isn't it?"
"Woah, it does sound really amazing." Lin Yi was impressed by the work of this miracle doctor- it seemed on par with the medicine LIn Yi himself was about to make.
"Yes! I've heard there's a legendary recipe for it, and that the majority of Golden Creation is s.h.i.+pped off to the military due to how effective it was. Only a shall portion is sent to the people's pharmacies, so the supply's always real tight!" The old woman continued. "It's almost impossible for you to find any in a pharmacy- My niece's boyfriend's third sister's younger aunt's fifth cousin's a manager of a chain pharmacy, and I'd only managed to get myself a bottle of Golden Creation only because of that connection! The stock's all sold out by the time the s.h.i.+pping arrives at the insider circles, there's no way they'd even make it to the shelves for sale!!"
"Is that so?" Lin Yi wasn't too surprised at how hot selling the medicine was, especially with how this old woman was describing it. It must be quite the medicine.
"Of course!! Especially for young girls- scars on their pretty skin is the last thing they'd want, how ugly would that be? They're not particularly after how fast the restoration effects are, the point here is that there won't be any scars after the wounds heal up!" The old woman said, barraging Lin Yi with more explanation. "I've also heard that people don't gift gold and jewelry to others anymore, it's all Golden Creation nowadays!"
"Hm, I see! Thanks for explaining, but I don't think I'll need that." Lin Yi said with a smile.
"That's true, young men like you don't need that kind of stuff!" The old woman nodded in agreement, evidently misunderstanding Lin Yi's point. He'd meant that he could make his own medicine- there was no need for him to buy any at all.
Lin Yi, naturally, didn't bother explaining that little detail to the woman. He went back to the Eastern medicinal herb counter- his listing had been weighed and prepared already, handed to him in sealed packets sorted by type.
Lin Yi gave them a quick check, and found that two of them were a little bit deteriorated, most likely because of how long it'd been on the shelves. Helpless, Lin Yi decided to get himself more of those types, so that he could outweigh the lack in quality with numbers.
He inspected the equipment and tools he ordered, and packed everything up after finis.h.i.+ng his business at the pharmacy.
Both Eastern and Western medicine were hot selling this time of the year, leaving raw ingredients like these in the dust. There weren't a lot of demand for them, and that was also the reason why Lin Yi was able to walk out from the pharmacy with them so quickly.
Lin Yi didn't plan on rus.h.i.+ng to the school upon stepping out of the pharmacy- he was marked as absent, anyway. It was the same if he'd decided to skip the whole day, and Lin Yi thought he'd go find a place to make the medicine before going to cla.s.s.
Something like this, naturally, couldn't possibly take place in school. Mengyao's villa was out of the question, as well- the two girls would go crazy if Lin Yi filled the place up with the smell of Eastern medicine. The best way to go about it was getting himself a private room to work in.
With that idea in mind, Lin Yi ddecided to walk around in search of a hotel.
"Hm?" Lin Yi noticed the girl from the pharmacy, lying in a puddle of her blood in an alleyway.
Lin Yi frowned at the sight- he didn't want to b.u.t.t into other people's business, but there weren't a lot of possible help that'd come her way, not in a remote alley like this. Even if someone was the come along, they'd most likely be unwilling to help. It'd be nothing but unwanted trouble if the girl died in their hands while trying to save her.
Lin Yi continued hesitating as he considered his position- he was on a mission himself! Furthermore, those who undertook missions involving this sort of consequence were always mentally resolved for sacrifice. Lin Yi understood that the girl would die sooner or later from the blood loss if he left her alone.
That was just how things were, sometimes… Involving himself with this encounter would undoubtedly bring him a series of trouble, especially considering the ident.i.ty of the girl. She wasn't just some random person shopping for groceries or anything.
Lin Yi gritted his teeth as he steeled his resolve, walking quickly past the girl and only shooting her a glance out of pity as he pa.s.sed. Hang in there.
A couple steps later, however, and Lin Yi froze in his tracks. Wait…
Lin Yi spotted something familiar in that glance earlier, something he'd seen somewhere before…
He turned back and went to the girl's body for a closer look, focusing her gaze on a ring the girl wore on her pinky.
Lin Yi sighed upon identifying the patterns on the ring. He pressed her fingers against her wrist- it still had a beat. He then proceeded to lift the girl up and carried her on his back.
The girl had fainted from blood loss, but Lin Yi's movemnents activated her reflex. Her body struggled a bit in an attempt to defend herself from what she subsonsciously perceived to be an attack.
Lin Yi made sure no one was watching before running back the direction he came, the girl on his back.
