Chapter 13: Something Sinister—The Doctor’s Surname Was Yan

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Old Wang’s wife had barely finished speaking when she immediately waved her hands. “I didn’t mean anything by it. If he offended you, then…”

She looked at Old Wang as though she had made some momentous decision, her face filled with grief. “Old Wang, just go with the Grandmaster. I’ll take good care of the children.”

Old Wang: ?

Listen to yourself!

The three little vultures had only just been born and could not understand anything too profound.

Being watched curiously by three pairs of eyes that had yet to take human form—and by vulture chicks, no less—Fu Qiqi could only admit that she was a hopeless sucker for cute faces.

She lowered her crossed leg. Seeing the two demons acting out a tearful farewell, she rubbed her nose.

“Have you misunderstood something?”

Old Wang had not even climbed down from the bed. He recalled how Fu Qiqi had arrived.

She had kicked the door open, dragged over a chair, and sat down with an air of arrogant menace.

Wasn’t she here to cause trouble?

“Old Wang, you’re my connection at the hospital. Come over here—I have a few questions.”

Old Wang practically wanted to scream. When had he become her connection?

But in reality, he obediently crawled over and said cautiously, “Grandmaster, ask me anything. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

After he had fawned over her for a while, Fu Qiqi took a black pill from her cloth satchel and dangled it between her fingers.

“Don’t worry. I won’t ask for free.”

The pill gave off a sweet, intoxicating fragrance. Old Wang swallowed uncontrollably, his eyes following her hand left and right, greed written plainly across his face.

He imagined every possible way he might die before barely restraining himself from snatching it.

A mid-grade Restorative Elixir—he had not seen one in several centuries.

“Grandmaster, how did you get that?” Old Wang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Even Old Wang’s wife nearly lost control. Only sheer willpower kept her composed.

Fu Qiqi put the Restorative Elixir away and answered cryptically, “Don’t ask so many questions. If you do the job well, there will be plenty in it for you.”

Old Wang froze, then exchanged a glance with his wife. After years of silent understanding, they reached the same conclusion at once.

Fu Qiqi was surely a hidden master. Perhaps she even belonged to some sect that had returned to the world after years in seclusion.

If they managed to build a relationship with her, wouldn’t they become her first supporters?

The benefits and status they might gain in the future… Perhaps he could even become Fu Qiqi’s mount!

“Don’t! I have no intention of riding a vulture out in public.” Having seen straight through his thoughts, Fu Qiqi shuddered. “What’s wrong with your brain?”

If the people from the Immortal Sects found out that she flew around on a vulture—

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Oh dear.

Old Wang did not mind being insulted. He merely grinned. “Grandmaster, you want to ask about the hospital, don’t you?”

He had actually already guessed as much. With the Grandmaster’s abilities, she would certainly have noticed.

Fu Qiqi nodded without saying anything.

Old Wang sat properly on the edge of the bed and thought for a moment. Before he began, he remembered to ask, “Grandmaster, will you protect us?”

He did not want to be tormented to death by that thing after revealing everything.

If he had not realized that Fu Qiqi had powerful backing, he would never have dared speak of any of this. Thinking of that, he felt a small surge of resentment. Why had the Grandmaster not brought out a pill last time?

Besides…

Though the origin of that Restorative Elixir was unknown, it contained a trace of immortal power.

Old Wang was a vulture demon who had survived for eight hundred years. He had not accomplished much in cultivation, but he had seen a great deal. Otherwise, he would not have recognized it.

Still, he could not be certain that Fu Qiqi would protect his entire family.

“Don’t worry. I’ll set up a barrier on the first basement level.”

Fu Qiqi raised a brow and smiled. It was not arrogance, but a confidence etched into her very bones.

Only after receiving her promise did Old Wang finally relax. He then slowly began recounting what had happened at the hospital.

The hospital had the finest medical equipment in Tianyun County, a full team of specialists, and a fund for ordinary citizens, so it treated a great many patients.

The strange events had begun four months earlier. Patients with serious illnesses in the inpatient ward all died half a month earlier than expected, while some ordinary patients would occasionally fall into a brief, inexplicable sleep from which they could not be roused.

Since the critically ill patients had been incurable to begin with, no one found it particularly suspicious.

After all, their treatment records appeared perfectly normal, and every patient had died from what seemed to be an ordinary illness.

Old Wang’s wife clicked her tongue and smacked him on the head. “Did you forget about the mad doctor upstairs? He was the one who noticed something was wrong.”

Old Wang looked blank for a moment. Then, remembering, he nodded rapidly. “That’s right, Grandmaster. He’s an old traditional physician, I think his surname is Yan. He said the patients’ deaths were eerie, but no one believed him.”

Fu Qiqi asked, “What about those who fell into unending sleep?”

“No one noticed them. If I weren’t nonhuman, I probably wouldn’t have noticed either.” Old Wang pondered. “They all fell asleep at night. Their bodily functions were normal, but that doesn’t mean it was ordinary sleep.”

Old Wang’s wife continued immediately, “That thing upstairs is extremely sinister. We don’t know what it is. We only know that it’s very powerful.”

After hearing what Old Wang and his wife had to say, Fu Qiqi’s fingers, which had been tapping against her leg, came to a stop.

As was her habit whenever she thought, she took a handful of sunflower seeds from her cloth satchel.

When she suddenly began cracking sunflower seeds, Old Wang and his wife exchanged a stunned look.

So powerful people cracked sunflower seeds while thinking. Should they start doing the same during cultivation?

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“Whatever kind of demon or monster it is, anyone who harms people without cause deserves to die.”

Fu Qiqi suddenly lifted her eyes and laughed twice. A murderous edge spread across her brows and eyes.

Old Wang scratched his head. He always felt that the Grandmaster was not quite righteous, yet possessed an inexplicable compassion. She seemed both good and evil—perhaps the most merciless kind of person.

She dusted off nonexistent dirt from her clothes. “It’s been a long time since I made bamboo shoots and green peppers stir-fried with pork.”

Creak.

Fu Qiqi closed the door behind her. Her footsteps faded indistinctly down the corridor.

Old Wang leaned against his wife’s shoulder. “The Grandmaster is so powerful. Why doesn’t she simply divine what’s happening at the hospital…?”

His wife immediately slapped him, furious at his stupidity.

“Why did you hit me?” Old Wang asked, aggrieved.

“You’re hopelessly stupid. The Grandmaster is obviously giving you a chance, and you still don’t understand.”

Otherwise, why would she have come looking for Old Wang? To admire his bald spot or check whether he brushed his teeth?

Old Wang did not believe it at first, but the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He began nodding to himself, carried away by his own fantasies.

“Then I have to cultivate seriously and strive to become the Grandmaster’s right-hand man.”

“Of course.” How clever she was.

—

It was still early when Fu Qiqi arrived outside the rear entrance of the inpatient ward.

The head nurse, taking her lunch break, stepped outside with a string of electric scooter keys in her hand. When she saw Fu Qiqi gazing up at the sky, she recognized her at once as the young woman from the previous day.

“It’s you. Is there still something you haven’t figured out?” the head nurse asked softly.

She had already assumed that Fu Qiqi was connected to Captain Shen and was still conducting an investigation and gathering evidence.

Everyone on duty that night knew that a corpse had inexplicably appeared in the morgue and that the murderer had been arrested. There was no way to conceal it, especially since they were all hospital employees.

The director had also instructed them to keep the matter strictly confidential and not mention it outside the hospital—not even to their families.

Fu Qiqi withdrew her gaze and looked at the head nurse, asking as though it were merely a casual question, “Sister, there are so many patients in the hospital. Can you really keep up with everything?”

The head nurse smiled. Meeting Fu Qiqi’s eyes, she found herself saying more than she intended.

“It’s our job. No matter how busy we are, we have to carry on. Still, there really have been more patients lately. Strange things have happened, too. A few days ago, there was a patient hospitalized with a stomach ailment, and somehow it progressed into stomach cancer.”

“Life is unpredictable.” Fu Qiqi lowered her eyes and covered her lower abdomen. “I haven’t been feeling well lately. I’d like to see a traditional physician.”

She looked uncomfortable. “I heard there’s a doctor here whose surname is Yan?”

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