Chapter 105

Chapter 105

When Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou returned to headquarters, the Operations Department offices were gradually filling up.

Bloody footprints marked the mirror-bright floor, one after another. Operations Department members hurried along with their weapons on their backs, their faces weary.

It looked as though the teams had returned.

Not only was the battle on Twelfth Street, East District, over; the fighting in the other neighborhoods must have ended too.

Ling Fang stood waiting for them at the entrance to the Operations Department.

Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou’s suitcases sat at his feet.

They lay quietly on the floor, ignored by the people hurrying past, looking like rubbish dumped there to be thrown away.

Of course, Ling Fang, standing beside them, did not look much better.

When he saw the slashes that sharp blades had cut through Xie Qingling’s clothes, he could not help frowning.

“You said you couldn’t answer earlier,” he asked in a low voice. “You can now. Where did you go?”

Xie Qingling’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately slumped against Shen Huaizhou and said weakly, “Director, I… I feel awful.”

Ling Fang: “…”

“It’s true, Director.” Shen Huaizhou immediately reached out to support Xie Qingling, who looked as fragile as a willow in the wind. “She just fought three hundred rounds against someone from the Eleventh Realm. It was a brutal battle.”

“I won!” Xie Qingling put in immediately.

Then, under Ling Fang’s murderous gaze, she added, “But I’m seriously wounded.”

Ling Fang stared hard at them. “Speak properly. You went to provide support?”

At that, Xie Qingling straightened and nodded. “Mm. We were going to wait for you. But someone called Tang Yuanxiao nastily called us useless, spineless weaklings. He said Future City was full of cowards who couldn’t fight!”

“He went too far, so we decided to fight for the department’s honor. We absolutely couldn’t disgrace you, Director!”

After speaking, Xie Qingling paused, belatedly realizing something.

She seemed to have said too much again.

Surely the Director had not noticed her embellishments?

Ling Fang lowered his head and considered for a moment. Unusually, this time he actually believed everything she said. Much of the severity left his brow, replaced by an emotion Xie Qingling could not understand. “He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” he asked.

…It seemed Tang Yuanxiao’s foul temper was known to everyone. The Director was actually worried that someone had bullied them.

Xie Qingling shook her head. “No. We showed him good and proper how strong we are.”

Ling Fang nodded. “For now, I won’t pursue your wrongdoing this time.”

Wonderful! A radiant smile immediately appeared on Xie Qingling’s face.

“For now. You both have to write a self-criticism. Ten thousand characters each. Remember it yourselves and hand them in when we return to Future City. Not one character short.”

Xie Qingling: “…”

“Come with me.” Ling Fang glanced at Xie Qingling’s wounds and led the way. Shen Huaizhou picked up both their suitcases and followed with her.

The three arrived at the mortise-and-tenon building on the left.

“This is the Medical Department,” Ling Fang explained as he guided them. “Members can come here for treatment whenever they return from a mission.”

He seemed extremely familiar with the place. He did not need to consult signs, look around, or ask anyone for directions. He simply walked forward without taking a wrong turn, as though he knew the path beneath his feet even with his eyes shut.

Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou obediently followed his steps.

Ling Fang led them inside. Before they even entered, they smelled a strong medicinal fragrance.

The first things they saw upon entering were the rows of tablets enshrined in the main hall.

Hua Tuo, Bian Que, Zhang Zhongjing… Ten spirit tablets in all, with incense offerings burning in a burner before each.

The medicinal fragrance mingled with the scent of burning incense, becoming a slightly warm aroma that was soothing and refreshing to breathe.

Farther inside, small rooms lined both sides.

Each room contained a small examination bed. Some people were carried in lying flat; others were helped out on their feet.

The building also had a second floor. Ling Fang said the operating rooms and inpatient wards were up there, and they should not go upstairs without a reason.

Headquarters really was enormous.

The Medical Department alone had more staff than Future City’s entire department.

In fact, Future City did not have a Medical Department at all, only Ye Anran.

With the battle against the Eleventh Realm only just finished, there were many wounded, and the Medical Department staff were busy.

Some were seeing patients, others brewing medicine. Interns were practicing acupuncture on dummies.

Xie Qingling and the other two walked in. Since none of them needed help walking or had been carried in, the Medical Department staff took them for ordinary patients, and no one attended to them.

Ling Fang looked around. Seeing that no one could spare the time for them, he had no choice but to head toward the innermost room.

Before entering, Xie Qingling clearly saw a sign standing by the door: Director’s Office.

Inside, they found a man seated on a luohan daybed[^luohan-daybed].

He was a very unusual man, the kind one would never forget after a single glance.

His hair was neither long nor short, falling to his shoulders. It was white.

White like snow, but not the white of an old person nearing the end of life.

His face was white too – pale, with an unhealthy bluish tinge. Blue veins were faintly visible beneath his pallid skin. His lips were so pale they seemed almost bloodless, and his eyes were unusually bloodshot.

[^luohan-daybed]: A luohan daybed is a traditional Chinese daybed with railings on three sides.
He looked sickly.

Cups of tea in various shades, some dark and some light, sat on the small table on the luohan daybed. When Ling Fang and the other two entered, the man was drinking tea.

He took a sip from this cup, then a sip from that one, as though tasting them. But his haphazard, disorderly approach could hardly yield much appreciation of the tea.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up toward the door.

He saw Ling Fang first, with little change in his expression, then tilted his head to look at the two people behind him.

“Ah, Ling Fang. Are these the youngsters you brought?” he asked.

Ling Fang nodded. “She’s hurt. Please treat her.”

As he spoke, Ling Fang reached out and nudged Xie Qingling forward.

Xie Qingling once again looked thoroughly respectful. She stood obediently and said meekly, “Thank you for your trouble.”

The man looked her up and down, then smiled, his eyes narrowing into crescents. “These injuries aren’t serious. Come take a sip of the new medicine I’ve developed, and you’ll be cured at once.”

As he spoke, he pushed a cup of tea toward her.

It was vivid green. Rather than tea, it looked more like medicinal dregs.

One glance was enough to tell it would taste awful.

At that moment, Xie Qingling began to miss Ye Anran.

She bent down and was about to lift the cup and drink when Ling Fang swiftly clamped a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from moving.

“She can’t take your medicine,” Ling Fang said gravely. “Please just treat her. Don’t frighten her.”

Xie Qingling immediately pushed the cup away, looking as though she would never drink it if her Director said she must not.

Utterly obedient.

The man burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that he lost his breath and began coughing violently. As he coughed, he spat out a mouthful of blood. The bright red blood landed on his white clothes like a red plum blossom falling onto snow.

Xie Qingling was completely stunned.

He really was sickly.

“His name is Gu Liansheng,” Ling Fang said. “Shennong’s Chosen and the Director of the Medical Department.”

“He’s testing medicines. Don’t casually take anything he gives you.”

Xie Qingling: “…”

Was this what headquarters was like?

How terrifying!

Her little angel Ye Anran was still the best.

So Xie Qingling thought.

No, wait.

Shennong’s Chosen?

Wasn’t that… one of the Spirit Wielders granted the blessing of the five ancestral gods?

Xie Qingling finally realized it.

She had known only that the Director knew people at headquarters. She had not expected those people to include someone like Shennong’s Chosen.

And from the familiarity with which the two spoke, they clearly had a close friendship. Their relationship was far more than simply “knowing” one another.

Come to think of it, the Director’s connections were even more impressive than she had imagined.

[Shennong tasted the hundred herbs and invented slash-and-burn cultivation. With a mortal’s strength, Shennong stood beside the divine and was revered by later generations as the ancestral deity of agriculture and medicine. Shennong led the people of this yellow earth from an age of eating raw flesh and drinking blood toward another, glorious future.]

[All who till the soil and eat grain remember Shennong’s kindness with gratitude. The descendants of Yan and Huang[^yan-huang], nurtured by an agricultural civilization, carry Shennong’s flesh and blood, Shennong’s legacy, within their veins.]

Gu Liansheng finished coughing and caught his breath. Wiping the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, he looked up and smiled. “Honestly, can’t I even make a joke? Ling Fang, don’t always be so dull. Come here. I’ll treat you.”

He pointed at Xie Qingling as he spoke.

Xie Qingling glanced at Ling Fang again. Only after he nodded did she approach.

Gu Liansheng took hold of her wrist and said quietly, “Restoration.”

In an instant, Xie Qingling felt as though she were bathed in a spring breeze. A gentle force enveloped her whole body, like an infant stretching within its mother’s amniotic fluid.

Within moments, every wound on Xie Qingling’s body, large or small, was healed.

Unlike Ye Anran, who could only heal injuries and could not restore vitality, Gu Liansheng’s divine ability could also replenish some of the patient’s vitality. Xie Qingling’s physical condition improved considerably.

Both her depleted stamina and her Spirit recovered to varying degrees.

Xie Qingling felt ready to go out and fight again.

“Thank you, Director Gu,” she said sincerely.

Gu Liansheng paused at her words, then looked up at Ling Fang. “Is she really always pretending to obey while doing the opposite, impossible to discipline, and recklessly charging into everything, as you said? She looks very well behaved to me.”

Ling Fang: “…”

Xie Qingling: “…”

Just listen to the things the Director had been saying behind her back!

Xie Qingling defended herself. “Of course I’m well behaved. Perhaps the Director has misunderstood me.”

Gu Liansheng: “…”

Those words did suggest she might be hard to discipline.

At that moment, Shen Huaizhou, who had been silent all along, suddenly stepped forward. His face looked excessively rosy and healthy beside Gu Liansheng’s as he said, “Shennong’s Chosen, treat me too.”

“…” Gu Liansheng said, “Don’t push it.”

Ling Fang resisted the urge to sigh. Afraid that letting these two stay any longer would destroy his lifelong reputation, he hurriedly said goodbye to Gu Liansheng. “I’ve only just returned. There’s a lot to do. We’ll catch up when we have time.”

With that, Ling Fang pulled Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou away at once.

Once they were out of the Medical Department, Ling Fang told them, “I’ll take you to the dormitory area now.”

“We’ll need to stay in the Old Royal City for a while, until the mission is complete.”

“As for what the mission involves…” Ling Fang considered for a moment. “Come to my room later. We’ll hold a small department meeting.”

Remembering something, he added another anxious warning. “Stay close to me. Don’t go wandering off again.”

[^yan-huang]: Yan and Huang refer to the Flame Emperor and Yellow Emperor, traditionally regarded as ancestors of the Chinese people.