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墨書 Inktalez
The Medicine King Pavilion is different from places like the Mirror Gate and Snowfall Villa; it is a straightforward medical institution, not one that hides in the shadows. The Pavilion is located in a bustling area to the east of Chang'an City, covering a large area and easy to find. As we approached the entrance, we were greeted by a long line of patients waiting outside what appeared to be the outpatient department.
This was an ancient hospital, renowned throughout the country, and just like modern hospitals, it faced the issue of high demand for services. Watching the staff efficiently manage the patients made it clear that the Medicine King Pavilion was well-operated.
We entered through the "outpatient department," where Nie Qiuyuan presented his official credentials to the receptionist, prompting someone to hurriedly go deliver the message. The room designated for consultations was quite spacious; the entire building felt like one large room, easily spanning over a hundred square meters and very bright. Patients were triaged here and guided into various consultation rooms located in the back courtyard.
However, this large space also served as a pharmacy. The traditional Chinese medicine cabinets were particularly striking, towering almost from floor to ceiling and covering two entire walls, reminiscent of some modern libraries. The pharmacists climbed ladders to retrieve medicines, showcasing just how extensive and plentiful their inventory was.
As I was engrossed in observing, something suddenly caught my attention—the coding on the medicine cabinets.
The massive cabinets were composed of numerous drawers, each numbered to correspond with a specific herbal medicine. The most common herbs were all within the first hundred numbers: for instance, number one was Codonopsis, number two was Astragalus, number three was Atractylodes, and number four was Angelica Sinensis. I noticed that some of the prescriptions held by the staff even had just numbers written on them for convenience—impressive that they could remember them all.
A sudden spark of realization flashed through my mind. The body snatchers were connected to the Medicine King Pavilion; even the secret letter used names of herbal medicines. Could it be that the code in that letter was related to this medicine cabinet?
With this cabinet present, all names of herbal medicines could be converted into numbers!
I quickly tugged at Nie Qiuyuan's sleeve and whispered my thoughts to him. He turned his attention to the medicine cabinet thoughtfully. After a moment, he smiled and said, "Interesting! But what do we do after converting everything into numbers?"
My train of thought was abruptly derailed as I felt utterly astonished.
"You—you—you memorized that secret letter?!"
He looked at me in surprise and nodded. "Of course! Since it's a secret letter, isn't it normal to memorize it?"
"We only glanced at it for a short while; you memorized it already?"
I used to pride myself on having an exceptional memory, able to memorize things faster than my classmates. But this speed was simply impossible; anyone who has studied knows that it must be cheating. If Nie Qiuyuan were to come to the modern era and be my classmate, I would forever be destined to come in second place. Moreover, he would be drowned in spit from everyone gossiping behind his back.
The male god let out a bitter laugh, "Zhenzhen, if you had undergone that kind of training where you had to memorize difficult things quickly, and if you couldn't remember them, you'd die, then you would definitely remember."
I imagined that scene: it would be like having a gun pressed against the back of your head while facing a textbook filled with formulas. The teacher would say, "Memorize it all, or I'll shoot you." Oh my gosh, how many top students would that create?
I digressed. I quickly pulled my thoughts back and considered for a moment before asking him, "Think about it; aren't there two drug names in each group? Does the number represented by the second drug not exceed one hundred?"
Nie Qiuyuan thought for a while and confirmed that yes, the second number was almost always within fifty, but the first number varied greatly, with some being several hundred.
I thought to myself that this was truly an extraordinary brain; it was even more impressive than blind chess.
My deduction was as follows: the two numbers in each pair resembled a codebook. The first number indicated the page number, while the second number indicated which character on that page. In this way, the two numbers could pinpoint a specific character, allowing the coded message to convey complete information.
This was a method commonly used by my Underground Party, and I never expected that such cleverness had also been devised by ancient people.
The reason I concluded that the second number was under one hundred was because ancient texts were not printed; there was a limited number of characters per page. The information provided by Qiu corroborated my thoughts perfectly.
The key question remained: what book was this? That was something we found quite difficult to guess.
At that moment, a group of people hurriedly emerged from the inner courtyard. The leader was an elderly man dressed in blue casual attire, his hair and beard graying and nearing his sixties. Several middle-aged men accompanied him closely.
As soon as these individuals stepped out, the outpatient building erupted into chaos.
"Dr. Fu, this is the real Dr. Fu!"
"All five of his top disciples are here; this is truly a rare sight!"
"The divine physician's disciples are more than capable of treating patients on their own. It's uncommon for the divine physician and his five foremost disciples to personally attend to cases. What kind of difficult ailment could this be?"
Hmm, it sounds like this divine physician is quite impressive.
Dr. Fu stood before us, preparing to greet us according to custom, but was stopped by Nie Qiuyuan.
"We are all in disguise; there is no need for formalities, sir."
Dr. Fu Zhifeng looked up at us, a look of surprise crossing his face.
"I heard that the Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple was visiting, but I never expected someone so young."
From his words and gaze, I could tell he had already clearly identified who the "Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple" was. However, strangely enough, when his eyes landed on my face, a fleeting look of even greater surprise flashed in them.
Why? Why would he be so surprised to see me? I couldn't comprehend this information I had picked up at all.
After a moment's pause, Dr. Fu said, "Please, gentlemen, let’s talk inside."
As we walked toward the inner hall, Dr. Fu casually asked me, "Brother, have we met somewhere before?"
"Ah, have you seen it? I wouldn't know about that."
Seeing my confused expression, Dr. Fu was taken aback for a moment and said, "As one gets older, memory tends to fade. Perhaps this old man has made a mistake."
I noticed his demeanor and politely replied, "There's no need for the esteemed doctor to think this way. I have suffered from amnesia, and many things from the past are simply beyond my recollection."
"Oh?" Dr. Fu seemed somewhat surprised. "If you don't mind, I would like to take your pulse and see how you're doing."
The fact that the renowned doctor was offering to examine me was quite an honor. Unfortunately, it was clear that my "condition" was not something that could be cured.
A chill ran down my spine. This old man appeared friendly, but I almost forgot that we were still uncertain whether he was friend or foe.
Before coming here, I had asked Nie Qiuyuan what we would do if the Medicine King Pavilion turned out to be a den of danger. He had already sent Shadow of the Night to scout the area, and nothing unusual had been found. Moreover, with us here, Shadow of the Night was lurking in the shadows as well; we were not alone in this venture, which kept our safety factor relatively high.
Even though there were no apparent anomalies, that only referred to what was visible on the surface. Since they were stealing corpses, it was clear that the Medicine King Pavilion was not just a simple pharmacy.
Dr. Fu led us into a side room. He walked ahead, opened the door, and ushered us in gracefully. As soon as I stepped through the doorway, I was left speechless.
The female corpse we had fished out of the river—the very same one that had been stolen from the Official Authorities—was boldly displayed right in the center of the room, as if mocking and challenging us.
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