Chapter 5: Spirit dicine for Bone Knitting, The Truth Hidden in Plain Sight
Early morning, the mist on Mount Longhu had not yet fully dispersed.
Zhang Xuanyao was squatting by the old well, a half-used toothbrush hanging from his mouth, humming a little tune vaguely.
That wave of shock value last night had sent him soaring, and the items in the System shop dazzled his eyes.
"Silver draw, let's go," he thought to himself.
In his mind, a silver-glowing roulette wheel spun rapidly, and finally, the pointer stopped on a green bottle icon.
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Azure Emperor Rejuvenation Ointnt (Elentary Version) * 1.】
【Effect: Promotes blood circulation, dispels blood stasis, knits bones and regrows flesh; has miraculous effects on bruises, injuries, and gunshot wounds.】
Zhang Xuanyao spat out the foam in his mouth, and a small white porcelain bottle appeared in his hand out of thin air. He opened the lid and sniffed; a cool, herbal fragrance drifted into his nostrils.
"Good stuff, just a bit small in quantity." He casually tucked the bottle into his pocket.
"Creak—"
The rickety wooden door of Qingfeng Temple was pushed open.
Qin Bingruo walked in. She wasn't wearing her uniform today, having changed into a simple gray tracksuit, her long hair tied into a ponytail, making her look fresh and capable.
But her face had a sickly pallor, and her right hand subconsciously protected her left ribs; every step she took made her brows twitch slightly.
Zhang Xuanyao turned his head and looked her up and down, his tone still as annoying as ever: "Officer Qin, it's early in the morning, shouldn't you be staying in the hospital instead of running to my shabby temple to inhale secondhand smog?"
Qin Bingruo stopped in the middle of the courtyard, staring at Zhang Xuanyao's face, which was plastered with a "don't care" expression.
"I was injured, and my superiors gave ti off to rest."
Qin Bingruo's voice was slightly hoarse.
"The reward from above hasn't co down yet, but I can't wait."
Zhang Xuanyao put down the water bucket and wiped his hands slowly and thodically, "Can't wait for what? Can't wait for to tell your fortune again? Officer Qin, that fifty-thousand-yuan rocket last night was for renovation costs; fortune-telling today requires an additional fee."
Qin Bingruo ignored his teasing; she took a photo out of her pocket and pressed it onto the stone table.
"Zhang Xuanyao, I don't believe there are immortals in this world, nor do I believe that one can determine life and death by pinching their fingers."
Qin Bingruo looked directly into his eyes.
"I've replayed last night's events countless tis. The car accident could be attributed to your sharp observation skills, inferring the speed of the dump truck through the live stream; my gunshot wound could be attributed to your understanding of psychology, predicting the criminal's firing position. These can all be forcibly explained using scientific logic."
Zhang Xuanyao chuckled, leaning against the well railing.
"So, you've co here now because you want to explain quantum chanics to you?"
"I want you to help find soone."
Qin Bingruo pointed to the little girl in the photo.
The photo was quite old, with yellowed edges. The girl was about six or seven years old, wearing a red dress, smiling brightly.
"This is my sister, Qin Xiaoya. She went missing twelve years ago at the Heng City Central Hospital."
Qin Bingruo's tone was heavy.
"All these years, I beca a police officer and joined the criminal investigation team just to find her. I've checked every surveillance backup and compared tens of thousands of DNA samples, but I've found nothing."
She took a deep breath, her gaze burning, "If you can calculate where she is, even if it's just a vague direction, I will admit that you are not a charlatan."
Zhang Xuanyao didn't take the photo. His eyes felt slightly warm; the 【Heavenly Eye】 activated instantly.
Above Qin Bingruo's head, within that rich golden light of Karma, a thin, faint cyan line of Karma extended outward.
The line was intermittent, leading towards the southeast, but its end was shrouded in a layer of gray Death Qi.
He was silent for a mont, withdrew his gaze, and his expression beca sowhat strange.
"Officer Qin, this isn't a test; you're making things difficult for this Daoist."
Zhang Xuanyao stood up and brushed the dust off his Daoist robe.
"Twelve years; so much has changed. Your sister's line of Karma has faded until it's almost invisible."
Qin Bingruo's eyes dimd, "So, you can't calculate it either?"
"I can calculate it." Zhang Xuanyao changed the subject, "But I have a condition."
"Na it, any amount of money is fine."
"Forget the money; this Daoist isn't short of those peanuts and dates right now."
Zhang Xuanyao pointed to her left chest.
"First, get your injury treated. You have three broken ribs and blood accumulation in your lungs. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you'll be needing a reincarnation within three days."
Qin Bingruo was stunned for a mont, "That's none of your business."
"How is it not my business? If you die in my Qingfeng Temple, this place will beco a haunted house, and how will I do business in the future?"
Zhang Xuanyao took the white porcelain bottle out of his pocket and threw it directly to her.
"Go to the back hall and apply this dicine to the wound. Rember, apply it directly to the skin and rub it until it feels hot."
Qin Bingruo took the dicine bottle and looked at him suspiciously, "What is this?"
"An ancestral secret recipe, a relative of the Strength-Boosting Pill." Zhang Xuanyao waved his hand, "Go quickly, don't delay my breakfast."
Qin Bingruo hesitated for a mont. She was indeed in so much pain she was about to collapse; the painkillers from the hospital had limited effect on this degree of bone fracture.
She clutched the bottle and turned to enter the back hall.
Half an hour later.
Qin Bingruo walked out of the back hall; the paleness on her face had faded, replaced by a healthy flush. She moved her shoulders, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"This dicine..."
"Don't ask; if you ask, it's a biological agent that science cannot explain."
Zhang Xuanyao was sitting by the stone table, with a bowl of white porridge and a dish of pickled vegetables in front of him.
"Sit down, tell about your sister."
Qin Bingruo sat opposite him, her tone much softer.
"The day she went missing, I took her to the hospital to see a dentist. I just went to queue up to pay the fees, and she was gone. No surveillance footage captured how she left the scene, and there were no eyewitnesses."
Zhang Xuanyao took a sip of porridge, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table.
He was frantically deducing that cyan line of Karma in his mind.
The 【Heavenly Eye】 could not only see the future but also trace the past. However, tracing the truth from twelve years ago consud a great deal of his current ntal Energy.
"System, activate the regression function, target: Qin Xiaoya."
【Ding! Activating regression requires 100,000 shock value. Confirm?】
"Confirm." Zhang Xuanyao gritted his teeth.
In an instant, the scene before his eyes changed.
The noisy hospital lobby, the sll of disinfectant was pungent.
A little girl with twin ponytails sat on a long bench, swinging her legs.
A man wearing a white coat and a mask walked over and handed her a piece of candy. The little girl took it with a smile and followed the man towards the stairwell.
The scene shifted to a black van, its license plate covered.
It shifted again to a remote brick factory with billowing smoke.
Fine beads of sweat seeped from Zhang Xuanyao's forehead; he saw that man take off his white coat, revealing a sinister face with a prominent black mole on his left earlobe.
"Pfft—"
Zhang Xuanyao opened his eyes abruptly; his throat felt sweet, and a bloody taste surged up. He forced it down, his face instantly turning deathly pale.
"Zhang Xuanyao! What's wrong?" Qin Bingruo hurried to support him.
Zhang Xuanyao waved his hand, pushed her away, and panted, "Officer Qin... your sister isn't dead."
Qin Bingruo's hands began to tremble violently, "Where is she? Where is she?"
"Heng City, southern suburbs, abandoned brick factory."
Zhang Xuanyao stared at her intently.
"But the one who took her wasn't a human trafficker, but... soone from within your own police force."
Qin Bingruo felt as if she had been struck by lightning, and her whole body froze in place.
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